


A game of Chase

by Shatteeran



Category: Lab Rats (TV 2012)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bionics, Bionics going awry, Brase, Bree has issues, Chase has issues, Don't like, Don't read, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Marcus has a plan, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-19
Updated: 2016-07-19
Packaged: 2018-07-25 11:16:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 23,694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7530580
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shatteeran/pseuds/Shatteeran
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It all started with a stupid, stupid idea. Well, being from Adam, I should have known better. But when he raised concerns about how Chase and I would not look old enough to impersonate clients of La Tour d'Argent, I did not second-guess him. This was a bad idea from the start. A huge misunderstanding. And yet, here I was, sitting across Chase in an expensive restaurant, going crazy over what could be going on in the boy's head.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Dinner at La Tour d'Argent

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [A stupid idea: A Brase story](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/214264) by Ethan OSec. 



> This work was originally on fanfiction.net under the name "A Very Stupid Idea".  
> My first fanfiction ever, written more than 3 years ago...  
> I decided to migrate it back to AO3 to have all my works located on the same website (+ tumblr).  
> It is complete! However, I'm giving myself some time to read and edit, so I will post chapters as I go along.
> 
> Hope you enjoy still!

_Bree_

 

It all started with a misunderstanding. A really stupid one at that. After our fight against Marcus and his evil dad, Davenport had been more and more confident in our abilities. A couple of months only after our tragic discovery of another bionic “comrade”, he was already sending us back on the field. And the missions were not getting any easier…

“You handled a lot more that I thought you could. Dealing with the secret of your origins and all. You all deserved more credit than I had given you for. Especially you, Adam”, he had said.

Just the time to ignore some snarky comment from Leo about how messed up our family was and how it was not getting any better, and we were flying in the inventor's private jet to Paris.

“I think we should review the plan one last time.”, Chase said with the air of superiority he often used whenever we would go save the world, or whatever.

“Easy. Go in. Spy. Run out. Done and done!”, I said just to piss him off.

“Not everybody has a super speed bionic chip”, he replied playfully.

“I don't understand this mission, Mr. Davenport”, Adam complained. We all had to admit that the plan would prove to be challenging for Adam's… skill set.

“Guys, my brother had and still has a network of people he was working with… financing his sick research, providing him material, probably buying his inventions. We need to focus on the big picture, here.”, Davenport chimed in. “We can't just go ahead and destroy everything. That would cut all our leads.”

“That's right!”. Leo. Tone all secret agent like again. “So, Chase and Bree, you are tourists who happen to be having dinner at La Tour d'Argent. Our sources confirm that our lead will have a “business meeting” at the same restaurant tonight. Your job is to collect information using Chase's super hearing.”

“We do not arrest the man, Chase intervened. Bree, you can speed us out in case things go awry. Adam, you provide diversion and clear the path if we ever need to make a quick exit. Questions?”

“I have one question”, I said. “Who pays the check?”

It all started with a stupid, stupid idea. Well, being from Adam, I should have known better. But when he raised concerns about how Chase and I would not look old enough to impersonate clients of La Tour d'Argent, I did not second-guess him.

“Maybe you should just act like a young couple. Two love birds, young and foolishly in love in Paris. Sounds harmless enough.”

“Tasha?”

“Yes, dear. A secret mission in one of the fanciest Parisian restaurants. Wouldn't miss it for the world.”

“Hey, Big D., do you think that maybe Janelle and I…”.

“Absolutely not.”, replied Tasha and Davenport automatically.

The usual banter always helped us relax before a difficult mission. I think, somehow, back home, they knew it too. And then, out of the blue, the problems began.

“Hey, Chase, if you kiss Bree, that will look so funny… because you're so short!”.

Chase's head turned abruptly towards my direction, a questioning look on his face. I shrugged, secretly hoping that the weird movement was not a glitch. After that, Leo, Tasha and Donald went offline, allowing us to focus on our objective. The jet dropped us not too far away from the restaurant. I had fought with the boys to avoid the wig, but they had been adamant with the high heels. They would only slow me down. The long red dress Tasha had chosen for me was even worse, but judging by the gaping mouths of the boys, it seemed all worth it.

Chase and I entered the restaurant side by side. We stood there, losing ten precious minutes, just taking in the amazing view. The hostess welcomed us with a suspicious look. As if we were about to pull a childish prank and run away laughing. I could see, Adam, waiting outside, getting antsy. Chase smoothly put his arm around my waist and shot a nerdy smile to her. That's when I really looked at him since we had gotten off the plane. The black suit, the white fitted shirt, the red tie. The hair just wrong in the right way. Wasn't he a little taller than usual? Again, he glanced me at me, his expression of delight shifting into a distant, semi-interrogating smile. I pulled away and quickly managed to request in French a table for two. Chase kept staring at me the whole time the hostess guided us to our seats.

Yes, this was a bad idea from the start. A huge misunderstanding. And yet, here I was, sitting across Chase in an expensive restaurant, going crazy over what could be going on in the boy's head.


	2. Science gone wrong

_Chase_

 

“Are you OK, Chase?”

I put a smug smile on my face then hid my chuckle behind the menu. She kicked me in the leg. I looked at her, unable to fully mask my amusement. 

“Can you hear them?”.

She discreetly pointed towards another table, where our target was tasting wine with a few other people. I nodded. I was adjusting the audio feed every half-minute or so to make sure the recording would be audible later. Yes, later, because at the moment, I had an entirely different scientific experiment in mind. Davenport would understand. If I were to tell him, he would.

I kept the super hearing on and made sure my chip was recording the conversation, but focused the rest of my attention towards Bree as her hazelnut eyes were browsing the menu. Absolutely nothing happened. I kept observing her for several minutes, waiting for my theory to be confirmed. She looked up and marveled at the view again. I saw an opening to validate my hypothesis.

“You look beautiful, too.”

And there it was, for the third time tonight. And to me, that was proof enough.

“You clean up pretty good yourself”, she whispered when our waiter arrived to take our orders. Bree randomly picked items from the menu with a French she had already managed to improve in the five minutes we had spent in the restaurant. Her eyes sparkled when the waiter came back with complementary fruit cocktails. I lost my train of thoughts again.

“Chase? Chase!”

“Hm? Sorry, I was listening to our friend's conversation.”

We shared a knowing glance.

“What is he saying?”

“Too risky to share right now. We will listen to the recording back home.”

“Great idea!”, she said, with a shy smile.

Knowing about it from rational testing and experiencing the full force of what was actually happening to the both of us tonight were two entirely different feelings. Tingles ran along my neck as she was complimenting my initiative. Meanwhile, an another part of me was relieved that I did not have to explain why I could not share our target's plans; because, truth be told, I was barely paying attention to them anymore.

“So, us acting like we are an item. Stupid idea or what?”, she asked, then sipped on her glass, I suspected, to regain some composure.

“I would say it is working really well”, I beamed. “Adam's genius works in mysterious ways, mostly, because he sees things we don't.”

“True that. I wonder if I should tell Owen about it.”, she joked.

I fell my face and heart harden at the implication. ‘Jealousy’ flashed in my mind, last coherent word before Spike threw the table against the wall.

 

That was the first time a mission went awry because of my non-brotherly feelings for Bree. In one night, Adam had planted a seed of new feelings of her; I had let and watched them grow into a kind of love we could never act on; and I was already throwing a jealousy tantrum over my sister. Great job, Chase! Sometimes, having a super computer instead of a brain did not actually make you smarter; you were just a heck of a lot faster to process unrequited feelings…

By the time Spike receded, we were back in the jet, flying home. First thing I noticed, Bree was back into her lab uniform. Second, Adam's cheek slightly bruised. Third, Bree was convincing Davenport to examine my chip as soon as I got back into the lab. I already knew what he would find. A whole lot of nothing; but if he could read my feelings, there would be enough to send him to therapy!

“So?”, I asked, trying to sound casual, voice still hoarse. Had Spike been yelling at the customers or what?

“Adam got us out in time.”, Bree said. I waited to see if they would share more, but nothing came.

“Man, you are injured. Did you have to fight our way out?”, I asked Adam.

“Actually, you… Spike did this.”, he answered, sounding unsure. I started apologizing but he raised his hand, signifying that we were good. I still felt horrible.

“Adam had to knock you out. It is like Spike had decided to tear the whole place down.”

Seriously, brain? Over a girl who was a crush less than 30 minutes ago? And just the girl you grew up with two hours earlier? 

“Davenport downloaded the recording”, she continued, hesitantly. I could hear from the speakerphone that everybody was holding their breaths. Did they fear another of Spike's outbursts?

“Chase, Bree added, we found Marcus.”


	3. Heartbeats

_Bree_

 

“Impressive, Bree! Who would have thought your French could improve so much over the week-end? Très bien.”

Figures, I thought. Nothing like the actual stuff to get you to progress quickly.

“Parce que Bree est extraordinaire”, Owen added, standing up in front of the whole class.

A few cheerleaders giggled. I shot him a quick smile and walked back to my seat, blushing. Barely. Slightly annoyed, really. Something was off.

“If Owen does not have any other love he would like to profess and share with the class, I suggest we continue with the lesson”, said the teacher in a sharp tone, obviously upset by my boyfriend's interrupting her while we were having such a nice teacher-student moment. Well, looks like she will not be using my progress in French for her pep talk about studying today.

“Hey! The cute boy who you happen to be dating just did something really cute. Stop frowning!”, my neighbor Danielle whispered.

“Am not”, I whispered back.

She rolled her eyes and set her mind on ignoring me for the rest of the period. I would have to make up with her later today. Because, yes, I was annoyed. Even more so because I could not figure out why. I glanced at Owen who was too busy to notice, with all his pals gesturing ‘thumbs up!’ towards him. One guy was actually making kissing sounds with his mouth; Owen chuckled and winked.

“Showboat”, I grumbled while I was turning back to face the board.

I knew well my boyfriend was an artist and as a supportive girlfriend, I was also really understanding when he expressed his feelings for me through his art. It just never occurred to me that he was also getting popularity out of the deal. Watching him get so cocky over five silly words in French, when he stood nowhere near the real deal, was even more unnerving. How could his barely mastered French compare with the dinner scene and Chase's tux? Slippery slope, I warned myself. I drowned the rest of my thoughts in the bell ring and rushed out of the classroom.

 

Owen caught up with me at my locker.

“Bree, are we… okay?”

“Hey, French boy”, I said, in an attempt to ditch the question. Epic fail.

“Hey yourself. Bree… you seem upset. Did I do something wrong?”

I nervously tucked a lock of my hair back behind my ear.

“No, you haven't done anything wrong.”

And he had not. I was being incredibly unfair to him. The realization made me even more annoyed, if that was still possible. Owen threw his puppy eyes at me, waiting expectantly for an explanation.

“It's just Chase”, I started, struggling with words, “and I had a fight this morning. I don't know what to do with him”, I added, finding myself surprisingly honest.

“Maybe I can take your mind off of him”, he proposed with a seductive smirk. And it was cute. And he was cute. But I could not find a cell in me who wanted to kiss him at the moment.

“So… where did you learn that French sentence?”, I asked to throw him off.

His answer was lost in the air as I noticed Chase walking down the hallway. He stopped next to us.

“Hey Owen!”

“Hi Chase.”

“So I hear you both are speaking French now”, Chase said, with a smug smile on his face. What was he thinking? “Bree kinda stumbled upon the most romantic scene in Paris last week-end. On TV”, he added.

“Turned out to be a horror movie”, I snarled.

“There was an unexpected ending”, he replied, tone between admission and disagreement.

Chase! What game are you playing? I tensed. Owen stepped in.

“Listen, Chase! I think Bree needs some space right now…”

My bionic brother walked away from us, backwards, hands up in an apologetic pose.

“I am leaving, I am leaving, but… Owen, you should know better than to put yourself between our… fight.”

Had he been eavesdropping on us with his bionic, now? Ok, I escalated from annoyed to just pissed off.

“Ch…”, I started shouting.

“Besides”, he continued, cocky as ever, “I only came to tell Bree that our father asked us to come home right after school, today. Don't make me ask Adam to carry you home.”

“Fine”, I caved. “You and Adam go first. I'll run behind you shortly. I promise you I will be there before you guys.”

Chase finally dropped the act. Hurt flickered on his face. I instantly felt bad, but like Owen a few minutes before, I could not put my finger on what I had done wrong. I waited until Chase was out of my sight and ran away from Owen right after without adding another word.

 

The helicopter was flying over Russia and the team was all geared up to find and capture Marcus. Adam had jumped off as soon as we had opened the door. Chase and I watched his parachute pop up below.

“You go first”, I proposed.

I still had not found the time to talk to him about today. Well, about everything really. My logical side was trying to talk me out of confronting him right before such a high profile mission. But I was growing tired of feeling guilty all the time. And edgy around my best friend. After Marcus' betrayal, Chase and I had turned to each other, to discuss bionics. The discovery of another engineered human like us and how he had turned against us affected both of us in different ways. Ways that Leo and Davenport could not fully comprehend. Ways that Adam probably did not even know existed. He was the smart sibling on this one, Chase and I joked. I decided it was time to have a talk with Chase. I took a huge breath in, for courage and…

He suddenly turned his head in my direction, with that hint of a smile and that absent look I had seen him with so many times over the last few days. This would provide a good starting point.

“Chase. You're not yourself these days. This new glitch… I know Davenport has not found anything wrong in your chip, but are you sure you are suited for the field just yet? What if Spike comes out again? And why do you hate Owen all of a sudden? What's the matter with you lately?”, I blurted out.

He looked at me, puzzled.

“Bree, you don't… you haven't… you don't know?”

He leaned in and whispered in my ear.

“It's you.”, he said. “I can hear it. Your heartbeat.”

He moved away to observe my reaction as understanding spread on my face. We both listened to my heart pounding frantically in my chest. Chase then jumped off the helicopter. In spite of the wind, I could hear his genuine laugh while he fell to the ground at a breathtaking speed. I was kinda dizzy myself.


	4. For the sake of your enemy

_Chase_

 

I just couldn't help it. Tuning in to Bree's heartbeat sufficed to make me smile. And it got insanely better each time I listened to the beats getting stronger whenever I was around. Like they reacted to my presence. It made me feel like I could take on the world. Even now as I was falling towards the ground, I would not have been able to tell if the rush of adrenaline coursing through my veins was caused by the jump or by… the expression of shock on her lovely face.

Because it was wrong. I knew it. Can't be the smartest teen on the whole planet and miss that one. Well, I guess I could. Just had to enter a room to the sound of Bree's heart rolling the drums to forget all about how wrong this was. To remember how right it feels.

“Chase…”

If I were to be completely honest, I also knew these feelings were not mine to begin with. Bree was a sister and a friend. A best of friends, especially after all we had been through together after Marcus' defection. “There are only four of us on Earth”, she used to say “and we failed to remain friends. We are supposed to be the next generation of human beings. And we are waging wars at each other, like everybody else. We failed.”

“Chase!”

I dig the notion of relativity. A lot. And I have read about the theory of complexity. Believe me, I can grasp the meaning of ‘grey area’. Just take, well, Bree and I, I guess. But when it comes to Marcus, there is nothing shady about the way he acts, speaks, thinks. The guy turned us against Leo. Created a conflict and let it fester. Between siblings. That was just plain evil, no matter how you looked at it.

So, yeah, Bree was a sister and a friend… an awesome sister and a great friend, but I had never thought twice about it. Would have never thought twice about it if it had not been for this sweet sweet melody of her heat singing for me in the jet to Paris. That's when everything had changed. And now it was all I could think ab…

“CHASE!”

I finally heard Leo's and Davenport's voices yelling in my earphone. Wow! Was I already this close to landing? More like crashing, to be scientifically accurate. Earth to Chase! We're about to do some serious lip locking! I closed my eyes. It was far too late to open the parachute.

I pulled the cord anyway with all my strength, hoping that it would at least slow me down. Keeping my eyes closed, I focused on my levitation skills. “It's not flying”, I coached myself. “It's using my molecular kinesis on myself. I am not changing my course, not fighting the flow. Just decreasing celerity.” I landed on the floor somewhat gracefully, but managed to stay on two feet.

“That was amazing!”, shouted Leo in my ear.

“Dude! Super hearing here”, I calmed him down.

“Oh… sorry!”

“We have some serious talking to do when you get home, Wonder Boy!”

“Come on, Big D, you can't ground him for that. He pulled it off. It was… It was…”

“It really was, wasn't it?”, I heard my father say before I switched the earphone off.

Just in time for the second wave of scowling.

“Chase! Are you alright? What kind of idiotic move was that?”

“Aww, Bree. You DO care.”, I answered.

She just looked down but I got rewarded with that irregular heartbeat I was becoming addicted to.

“Do not worry, Bree! Even if Chase had been crushed, he could not really be any shorter than this… Because you're so short.”, he added after a long pause.

Bree hid her smile behind her hand. I really didn't mind.

“What now?”, our big bro asked.

We were facing a huge metallic building, half hidden by the snow. It did not seem like there had been any major effort made to camouflage it. When it came to secret evil lair, I had to admit that the Davenports could do a lot better than this. This was bad news.

“What do you think?”, Bree asked.

“Heavy security. Probably both human and technologic.”

“Thought so.”

“Alright, here is the plan. Bree, you super-speed into the laboratory. Disable the cameras that you can find and locate Marcus.” I caught her arm. “This is recon' only. Do not engage him. Or anyone until we get to you.”

“I can take care of myself”, she snapped and broke free.

“It's not you I am worried about.”

“Spike?”, Adam ventured. “Do not worry, Chase! I can keep the little guy in check. Because, even when you're Spike, you're still so tiny.”

Bree didn't laugh this time.

“Once you've discovered Marcus' location, you transmit his coordinates to me. Adam and I will join you to capture and recover him. Got it?”

“YES!”, they said, half-hearted.

An uneasy feeling was settling in among us, as if something today was about to go terribly wrong.

“Let's go!”

Courtesy of Adam, whose heat vision opened a ‘door’ in the nearest wall, Bree dashed into the dark building. I counted the seconds outside and tried to will myself into not tuning in to her heart again. One… Two… It had all happened too fast. Until now, I think I had sort of expected this thing between us to go away with next mission. Three… But it wasn't. And now, I ... Four… ‘She is still alive.’, my super hearing confirmed. I could have recognized her rhythm anywhere. Five… …but the sound was fading away. She should have contacted us by now.

“You guys should come and see this!”, she finally spoke through the earphones.

“Adam! Lead the way. Smash everything between Bree and me. And you.”, I added quickly.

“And Marcus.”, he completed cheerfully whilst he rushed himself against the next wall.

Bree was in the deepest room of the lab. It looked a lot like Davenport's basement. At least, before Leo found it. On the floor, two guards and five scientists in white coats had all be knocked unconscious.

“Told you I could take care of myself”, Bree sighed sheepishly.

I suddenly got hit by a new feeling. My arms started to ache for her, desperately. The need to hug her completely overwhelmed me for a few seconds. I stood there, staring, while my fingers clamped the air several times. An energy ball escaped from my hands and flew across the room, lighting on its way an examination table. On the table laid a shirtless, drowned in tubes and surrounded by bleeping machines, Marcus.

“Oh”, said Adam, brooding. “He's already captured. We failed.”

“Not exactly”, Bree corrected, “We still need to bring him home with us to take care of him.”

“Bree is right”, I confirmed to a confused Adam, “at least for the bringing home part.”

She shot me a bad look and came closer to Marcus' body, caressing his cheek to wake him up. At least, the urge to embrace her had gone away.


	5. Love is in the air

_Bree_

 

“I am not falling for Chase”, I kept repeating myself while I observed Marcus seducing a bunch of 11th graders.

“My father had to travel away for work, but I missed the school too much, so I am living with the Davenports for now. Boy, it's nice to be back!”, he was telling them with a radiant smile.

They giggled. I rolled my eyes. It had already been a week since we've rescued Marcus from the Russian lab. Davenport had been able to put him back together to his double-faced lying self quickly enough. Tasha had emphasized how, no matter what he had done in the past, he was still a kid. How our education system could save him from the evilness within. We were not to give up on him. Because he was family. The last argument had convinced us to let him go back to school… but not to trust him. Chase, Leo, Adam and I had reworked our schedule to make sure Marcus was under constant watch.

I barely had the time to hang out with them anymore, or with Owen for that matter. Though I had to admit I was kinda happy about the latter. It gave me time to sort my feelings for Chase.

“Bree! Don't go there!”, I scolded myself. “There's nothing to sort out because you do not have feelings for Chase”. Because if I had… even with the family's understanding, where would that leave us? With the school? No, I just was not supposed to want Chase this way and that was all there would ever have to be said on the topic. We were a team of siblings, nothing more. And there would always be something, someone to remind me of that fact. A sister was the only thing I would ever be for Chase.

But I missed him… More than Leo or Adam. I had so many things to tell my best friend, with Marcus being imprisoned then rescued and living with us and all. I would feel better if we could just talk about this, about Tasha saying he was family, about what ‘family’ meant for us in the first place. “Chase is avoiding you”, I realized. We could have found time to be together if we both had wanted to. But since Russia, since that moment when he told me he knew, he… My vision became blurry as I began to crack. Who was I kidding? I couldn't even deal with the thought of him hating me. What if he had decided to never talk to me again? To just… move on?

I buried my face in my hands, suddenly assured of two things.

I was in love with my brother.

And I had to break up with Owen.

“Bree, can we talk?”

“What do you want, Marcus?”, I asked harshly and a little upset he had been able to sneak up on me while he was under my watch. At the eloquent face he made with his eyebrow, I knew he must have known it too.

“I need your help, Bree. I get the probation thing and all…”, he started and stopped when he saw me stand abruptly.

“On probation?”, I shrieked, ignoring the concerned glances in the hallway. “You're a prisoner, Marcus. The plan was never to rescue you and nurse you until you become as good as… us”.

“You want to learn about my dad's whereabouts.”, he replied, flatly. “But Bree, what's the point of having a prisoner if you don't hear him out?”

I pretended to consider his idea for a while when I was actually actively engaged in finding a good comeback. I really needed an outlet for my frustration. Taking it out on Marcus seemed like a pretty good plan at the moment. After thirty seconds of silence, I had nothing.

“Fine”, I said. “Speak”.

“Bree, I know it will take time before you all can forgive me and trust me again. But you have to understand: my dad, he told me you ran away from him. He told me you'd left me behind. And then, we moved to town and I got into this school and I met you guys. And you all cared for each other and were so tight because of your so-called secret. But none of you seemed to remember me; and yet, you were so friendly and trusting. The friendlier you all got, the more it hurt, because I could not help thinking I could have been a part of it… if you had not abandoned my dad and me.”

“You never gave us a chance. Never second-guessed your dad's tale. We never knew you existed. Yet, you chose to believe him.”, I shot back, an uneasy feeling creeping up in my stomach. Marcus was very well alone in the world right now, not unlike I was without Chase around.

“I  _chose_  to believe the only person on this planet who ever cared for me, whoever loved me.”, he stated, with this ever disturbing even tone. I was not even sure whether he was still speaking to me or not.

“We loved you.”, I said, voice rising again. “I… But you threw all of that love out through the window, Marcus, because, even when you believed you were human, you were acting like a freaking robot!”

He stared at me, puzzled.

“Good luck with that trust thing!”, I yelled while I turned my back on him and started to walk away. I tapped Adam's hand on my way back to my locker.

“Your turn”, I grumbled. “I have had enough of scared-of-love boys for one day!”

“What's her deal?”, I heard Leo wonder out loud.

I increased my pace in response.

 

“So… here we are!”, Owen announced, joyfully, obviously hopeful he might get a kiss on the doorstep for his good deed. I had asked him to walk me home, figuring it would be weird to break up with him at his place or mine and plain insensitive to do it in the school. But I had not found the courage to tell him yet and we were already in front of Davenport's house. He leaned in slowly, letting me meet him half-way.

“Owen…”

He opened his eyes searching mine for an explanation. Puppy-face full on. I felt absolutely nothing. If I had to grade the guy, though I really didn't enjoy doing it, he would still be an 8, at least. Maybe a 7, on a bad day… But that would have just been the brain talking. For once, my heart was completely silent. And empty. I wondered if Chase had heard anything in the past days.

“We need to talk”, I blurted out.

“I don't think we do, actually.”, he sighed, hurt all over his face. “You're breaking up with me, aren't you?”

“I'm sorry.” And I really was.

“I know. You've been pulling away since French class last week.”, he added, methodically.

What was it with boys and their idiotic rationality all the time? This was about feelings.

“So you noticed.”

“Bree, I notice everything about you.”, he said again, a tremor in his voice. Maybe I had misjudged him. I decided he deserved a little more. Perhaps I could give him closure:

“It's not you. It's…”

“Me?’ Is that what you are about to say? Please don't.”

“I meant… Very soon, a special girl will be very lucky to have you. You are a great guy. And a really thoughtful boyfriend. But there is someo…”

“It's Marcus, isn't it?”

“What?”, I laughed in disbelief.

“It makes sense”, he explained sheepishly. “You've been distant since he came back. You spent half of your time staring at him intensely and the other time, ignoring him. Also”, he admitted, “I heard about your outburst at lunch today.”

Wow. Didn't see that one coming. But if it made sense to Owen, made things easier for him, that still was a lot better than the truth. I would have time to think about my so-called crush on Marcus later.

“I'm sorry”, I said again, not confirming nor denying his idea.

“Well, I hope you will find each other”, he said and walked backwards in our alley. “Bree deserves to be happy…”, he said again and then shot me a last look, smiled and with his thumb up, added: “Parce que Bree est extraordinaire”. 

The gesture was my undoing. I rushed inside the house to the lab so he would not hear me sob. No need to confuse the brave guy even more. The doors of the elevator opened on a familiar scene. Chase was working on the computer, with his half- focused half-content smirk; Leo sat on Davenport's chair, feet propped on the desk and read comics; Adam was nowhere to be found. Probably with Marcus somewhere. I had just broken a nice guy's heart and the Earth just kept going, unaware of the tragedy that had just unfolded on my doorstep. I fought the tears but let out a small cry at the unfairness of the situation. Nobody was happy. In a second, Chase was by my side, taking my hand, steadying me as he walked me towards the center of our room.

“What happened?”, he asked.

“It's obvious!”, Leo replied without looking up, “She broke up with Owen!”.

I was about to tell Leo that he could shove his… but Chase wrapped his arms around me, rocking me slowly back and forth, whispering words in my ear I could not make out, and my anger melted away. Chase was… ‘we’ were back. And it's all that mattered for now. This was probably the best hug of my life. I let my pain and guilt disappear in Chase's warm embrace, his scent a sweet mix of pine forest after rain and lemon, with a hint of vanilla. Did he smell like that naturally? Leo coughed. I glanced at him with what I hoped was a mean look and…

“Chase! Put me down.” The boy I was in love with put his hands on my shoulders and looked at me, a quizzing look on his face.

“We're levitating. Put. Me. Down.”, I insisted, suddenly uncomfortable with Leo witnessing the display of affection. What was I thinking? Me being done with Owen did not change anything. I should and would never act on my feelings for my baby brother. We fell on the floor more than we landed, which was okay, because we had been only a couple of feet in the air.

“Ow! Careful, bozo!”, I told Chase, wishing I could escape the embarrassing moment.

But Chase collapsed on the ground, unconscious…


	6. Sick Boy Love (part 1)

_Chase_

 

I woke up in Leo's bed, carefully tucked in. A glass of water awaited me on the night table. I moved my arm to grab it. I was so thirsty my throat hurt. Pain shot behind my eyes. I let my hand fall back on the comforter. I must have whimpered because Tasha entered the room right away to hand me the glass. I tried to pass my thanks through my eyes. She smiled and pressed her palm on my forehead, then removed it quickly. My eyelids felt heavy. I blinked. Somewhere around the door, Adam's voice resonated in my head:

“I was wrong. He can look smaller.”

Darkness enveloped my mind again. The next days were a blur. I almost never woke up alone, but I could never stay awake more than a few minutes at a time. Dreams and reality mingled as I alternated between extreme heat and biting sensation of cold. Words echoed through my brain affecting the quality of my sleep.

“Maybe he would sleep better in his tube.”

“Donald, you are not putting a sick child in a tube.”

“I don't know what to do, Tasha… He never got sick before.”

One full night passed.

“Mom is letting me sleep on the couch. I watch TV all night, this is so… I mean, that is what I would do if I was not focusing so much on school.”

Tasha had probably passed by the room at the very moment. Sounded like Leo was in for a lot of trouble.

Another full day passed.

“What's wrong with him, Big D.?”

“I have a theory but I cannot confirm it until he feels better. The examination of this chip would put too much of a strain of him.”

“ _If_ he feels better?”

“I'm still… here”, I painfully articulated in a hoarse voice.

All I got in reply was pitiful looks.

Another night. Or was it a day?

“You said this has never happened before? To any of you?”.

Marcus.

“No. Though Chase activates the Snot Canon when he sneezes. I always thought it was funny. Before”.

“Adam, I need you to remember. This is very important. What is the longest time you've ever used your Bionics without a break?”

“Don't tell him”, I thought, “Do not tell him anything”, but exhaustion pulled me under before I could hear Adam's answer.

Bree never visited. If she did, she never spoke. I thought I saw a shape once dashing through the exit, but it might as well have been the fever. On the 4th day or so I was told, I started to feel a lot better. Enough to stay awake for a few hours and for Davenport to finally take a look at my chip. When he came back with the results, the whole family gathered in the small room. Leo was sitting on the comforter, facing me. Bree sat behind him, avoiding my gaze. Marcus stood at the end of the bed and not too far, Adam was leaning against the wall. Dad took the place that was rightfully his by Leo's desk but Tasha waited by the door. She had been the best nurse to treat the symptoms but when it came down to Bionics, she would leave the rest to her husband.

“The logs in Chase's chip confirm that he has been overusing his Bionics. Without proper training, his brain could not stand the activity. You did not catch a cold, Chase, you have been careless. What were you thinking, leaving your super-hearing on, 24/7?”

Bree blushed. By force of habit, I tried to listen to her heartbeat once more. A white light momentarily blinded my vision. I winced in pain.

“You'd better answer me, boy! Did you abuse your powers?”

“Maybe”, Tasha proposed, “this misuse has something to do with the glitches Bree reported.”

“But we already looked into it”, Leo said with a fairly good impression of Dad's inventor voice, “we could not find anything wrong with Chase.”

The atmosphere got a little lighter for a while… Until Tasha, stepping forward, formulated a second opinion:

“What if it is not a bionic problem? What if the glitches are caused by … puberty?”

“What?”, Leo, Adam and Bree shouted.

Bree's voice somehow gave me enough energy to sit in the bed. Under the comforter, my fingers reached for hers, which were restless over the covers. She pulled her hand away.

“But I am older than Bree and Chase, and I do not have all these problems”, Adam countered.

“Because your skills, and Bree's, rely mostly on your physiognomy. Like athletes, you need training. A lot of training. A lot, lot, lot…”

“We got it”, Bree said.

Three full words in days. Not the one a guy was hoping to hear after having spent four days out of it, but, hey, I wasn't complaining.

“Chase's bionics are related to his brain. So if he happens to be… distracted, he can lose control easily. When I was a teenager, my hormones were driving me cr…”

“Ew!”, we all complained.

“And I haaaaave pictures!”, Eddy added, his icon showing up on the tablet on the wall.

“What I meant”, Dad continued, struggling to keep the room calm, “is that your bionics, Chase, are directly affected by your emotions, but not your siblings'.”

“Bree affects my bionics, alright!”, I said and high-fived Adam.

I probably would not have dared to say this without the fever. Still, I intended it as a joke, to lighten the mood, just some witty comeback to annoy my sister, really. I also hoped she would get the real meaning between the lines. So what happened next constituted a double failure.

“It is NOT funny!”, she snapped, “we still have not learned ANYTHING about Douglas' plan. Marcus has been as helpful as Eddy on his worst days. Chase is glitching all over the place and is barely waking up from a self-induced coma. And WE, the Davenport so-called super-heroes, are making JOKES.”

And with that, she proceeded to storm out of the room. But that was not going to happen.

“Eddy, close the door!”, I ordered. The door shut instantly, trapping us all inside.

“And that's all helpful I can be, if you get on my bad side”, Eddy snarled.

We all ignored him.

“Bree, I'm fine. I'm here.”, I repeated softly. “I am going to be alright.”

I do not know how long I kept on with my litany of reassuring words, but by the time I stopped, my throat felt sore again and Bree's heart beat at a normal pace. I finally gazed around the room: it seemed everyone had bought our ‘concerned siblings’ act. I sighed, reassured.

Then Marcus' mouth stretched into a mischievous smile and I just knew he had been listening, too.


	7. Sick Boy Love (part 2)

_Chase_

“So.”, Leo said and he smashed his plate on the table so loudly than he drew attention of half the cafeteria directly towards him. He pretended to ignore it, especially since quite a few green peas had flown off the dish in every direction possible. He sat and waved his fork at me:

“Let's talk, brother.”

I stared at the mess he had made in his attempt to prove a point I was not fully certain I was getting. Bree had managed to avoid me all morning. Again. It had been three days since I had started to go back to school, a whole week since the … incident. And we had barely exchanged a word. Sure she would pass me the salt at dinner when I had asked; once, I think, she even replied to my ‘good night’, but she might as well have wished it to anyone in the house…

“Stop brooding and talk to me, dude!”, Leo tried again.

I mean, sure, I had started the chasing game first. The Chase game. I felt a bitter smile pass on my lips. But I was just giving her time to sort things out. It was her heart. How crazy was it to assume that what I could hear she could feel, too? But no, not Bree. She just walked around with her heart pumping like she had just run a marathon, which, ok, she had probably just done, but off topic, and remained completely clueless. So after she made me, almost, declare myself, I thought she needed time and then, she would come back.

Learning about her and Owen breaking up, that had been the happiest day of my life. Like something I always had missed without knowing was finally sliding into place. Like all my hidden abilities had been unlocked and pure power was just rushing into every cell of my being. Like I had reached my ultimate purpose in this life. Love Bree and be loved. And now…

Leo threw his apple at me, completing the disastrous exhibit he had made of his lunch.

“Fine, I'll start”, he said, nostrils flared, then he mimicked me like he had done Davenport an eternity ago: “You see, my dearest and bestest of friends Leo, my glitches have nothing to do with puberty. But I am smarter than anyone else, so I can make jokes that nobody understands and then nobody is laughing. That's how smart I am. So, so smart that my dearest and bestest of friends Leo does not notice that I have not been speaking to Bree for almost two weeks, now; like he hasn't picked up on the fact that every time I ‘glitch’, I am staring at her with an idiotic face.”

“Alright, alright, there is something between Bree and… No, there isn't. I am in love with her.” I shrugged.

“THANK YOU”, he emphasized, getting annoyed looks from the students again. “Now we can talk.”

“Am I that obvious?”, I asked, a little concerned.

“Dude, does it ever occur to you that being me, I know everything there is to know about teenagers, as much as Davenport dares to tell about bionics, and roughly more about you three than anybody else? I am kind of an expert, really”, he bragged.

I smiled. An actual smile. I thanked him in my thoughts for this.

“And Bree and I had an interesting conversation after you fainted.”, he added.

“Really?”

“Don't try, I'm not sharing.”

“You can't keep a secret to save a life, Leo.”

He grinned, as if he had tried and failed to shake a bad thought off.

“What about that one time where Marcus was evil and had powers, but made me swear to keep it a secret? Oh, and when I discovered you three sleeping in my basement and that you ALL had powers but nobody could know? Wait, and there is also the moment I found out you were crushing on…”

“Ok, I apologize. You absolutely can keep a secret.”

“And?”

“And you're an expert on us.”

“And?”

“And you're my dearest and … bestest of friends, whatever that means.”

“You're damn right I am.”

“Now, spill the beans! And I am not talking about the food.”

He laughed whole-heartedly. I joined him for a little while, but he stood up and took his plate.

“Chase, she's been your sister for 15 years. She deserves a little more than two weeks, don't you think?”

“What do you think?”, I finally found the courage to ask. “Do you think it's sick?”

“Man, for the smartest kid on Earth, you can be thick!”, he chuckled. “I have your back. If she is what your heart wants, the only words you'll ever hear from me are ‘Go for it’. Ok?”

“Okay”

The little brat had actually managed to cheer me up. And to receive his validation had helped, too. Until I had uttered the question out loud, I had been running away from the guilt. Somewhere, a deep part of me, despite the profound happiness Bree's … feelings for me were causing me, had been chanting, much like a mantra, how wrong my love was, how sick I was, how only bad this would all end. Now there was hope, because I understood that the Chase game had been my way of coping with this. Staying away from Bree had been my answer to stay away from the feeling of impurity I was now freed of. Maybe Leo was right, maybe she would break free, too. The thought got me through the afternoon. To the very moment where I would be appeased enough for Marcus to wreck it all.

“So.”, he said with a smirk, “Let's talk, brother.”

The hallway was empty. The students had deserted the school right after the bell had rung.

“What are you not eavesdropping, those days, Marcus, with those giant ears of yours?”, I replied, barely hiding the discomfort that was now eating at me.

“Must be running in the family, too”, he pointed out as he slowly walked my way.

“Listen. Please hold your tongue. Bree's going through a very dif… Wait? ‘Too?’.”

He put his hand on my shoulder, but he must have been pressing way too hard because my whole body tensed under the pain. A normal human would probably have gotten his shoulder broken from the pressure. Marcus had dropped the act. Or maybe… maybe he was still playing another role. It was always hard to tell with him. There was something intense about the way he stood and looked at me at the moment that very much appeared real. Especially because he looked a little overwhelmed.

“Marcus…”, I warned, shaking my shoulders. He slightly released his hold.

“There is no need to fight, Chase. We want the same thing.”

“Bree”, I whispered.

“No”, he replied, the smirk right back under my nose. Well, his. “We want Bree's happiness.”

“And how do you propose we help her finding it?”, I shot back. “By letting her decide…”

“Not exactly.”

For the first time since the beginning of this unnerving discussion, I wondered what Marcus had in mind. Might be worth paying attention. He was probably conscious of my sudden awareness because he added:

“Chase, she's miserable.”

“What?”

“You're right. I have been eavesdropping around the house. I guess I was just trying to fit in, see what you guys were made of. As a family.”

The logical approach. I couldn't help but recognize some value in that sort of thinking.

“I overheard her confession to Leo.”

“You did”, I managed to get out, unsure, tone between a statement and an interrogation.

He just tilted his head to the right. I knew this move. That is how I activated a recording when I wanted to play it out loud.

“He… he just… he is always there”, Bree cried. “I cannot escape him, cannot avoid him, cannot ignore him. He is everywhere. And now I broke up with Owen and he just… we just…”

She sounded miserable, even worse than when I had hugged her, a few minutes before the recording, I guessed.

“Shhh, Bree, it's okay.”, Leo's voice replied, soothing. “Everything will be alright.”

“I can't breathe… I'm suffocating on him. If he doesn't let go, I'll go crazy, Leo.”

“Crazier?”, he suggested.

He got a muffled sound in answer, some mix between a laugh and a sob. Marcus stopped the recording.

“Chase, she's miserable”, he repeated.

There was no hope, then. No helping our situation.

“I'll do anything.”, I whispered, still in shock by the unbearable hurt in…my… sister's voice. 

Now calling her my sister sounded weird. I repeated the words in my head a few times, let the acceptation sink in. Marcus finally let go of me:

“We, brother, are getting Bree and Owen back together.”


	8. Boys will be boys (part 1)

_Marcus_

She was not trying to be discrete about it at all. I think it was one of the things that first drew me to her, the way she was smart enough not to play mind games. Especially, well, with me. But the same applied to everybody else she hung out with. Straight-forward, perfectly honest Bree. At the moment, I was really appreciative of this virtue of her, since it allowed me to make sure I did not lose her, without having to be so obvious about it.

 

_“Owen and Bree? Together?”, he asked, obviously taken aback._

_“Yes, Chase. Let her move on”, I replied, enjoying his astonishment way more than I should. “And I have a plan.”_

_“Of course you do.” I deserved that one. I raised my eyebrow anyway to remind him who was in charge._

_“It is simple, really. You should be able to follow.”_

 

I turned left and slowed my pace a bit. During the few seconds I was hidden by the corner, I pulled out my phone, texted Chase. Three letters. We were still a few minutes away from the festival, but I wanted him to be ready. I had seen how these guys were handling missions. For this particular one, timing was of the essence.

 

_“We set them up on a date. But first, we need something from you.”, I started to explain._

_He fell immediately silent, eyes half-closed in concentration, already in top student mode. Whatever._

_“First, you need to push her away. Just talk to her. Be your usual self, the one before the mission in Paris.”_

_“You also know about that?”, he wondered out loud._

_I just grinned. Chase was so many steps behind. They all were. The way they prioritized things made them both endearing and sometimes, really, really, frustrating to be around to._

_“She avoids me, genius”, he commented, but sounded like he knew I would have an answer for that, too. He_ was  _learning fast._

_“And that is why you are not meeting her in school or at home. You, my brother, are going to the Long Beach Spring Fair. I will make sure Bree meets you there.”_

_“And how are you going to achieve that? You and Bree, not exactly best of friends, either, man.”_

_He had started to relax, the planning distracting him from his never-ending doubts about me. I pleaded guilty. I repented. Like, for real. Now was a good time for them to forgive and forget. They are the good guys, so it is written on their honor code or something. I mean… our honor code._

_“You guys still have a schedule to check up on me?”, I asked Chase. He nodded. “Problem solved. This Saturday, I'll go to Long Beach. And she will volunteer to tailgate me.”_

_He nodded, a sadness in the eye. I just could not resist emphasizing:_ _  
_“Because you know, she would do anything to get away from the house these days, with you and all…”__

 

“Bree?”

Chase was not so bad at acting, I thought. He really did look surprised when he appeared from behind a booth and stumbled upon her. I glanced at them one last time and slowly proceeded to get out of Bree's point of view, all the while listening closely to their conversation.

“Ch-Chase? What are you doing here?”, she squeaked.

“Hey, Princess!”, he greeted.

On his face was beaming the confident smile he had been wearing the first time I had met him all these months ago. A really good actor, indeed. I wondered if this had something to do with our shared Bionics, but saved the theory to examine later.

“I did not know you were going to the Fair”, he said.

“I was following Marcus.”

From my post of observation, a few feet away, I waved like a moron for a few seconds, just long enough so that they would turn to face each other again. 

“So… it's been a while! You've been running around like crazy and I barely saw you those past two weeks”, he teased.

“You know me”, she stuttered, waving her hands in confusion. She looked so lost she was starting to look really cute.

“That's just the thing, Bree. I don't know where you have been, but it has been so long I feel like I barely know you anymore. Let's see…”, he joked, “do you still have the Bieber fever?”  
“Shut up, nerd!”, she giggled and punched his shoulder.

He got her, I thought. And I started running in the other direction…

 

_“And how do we bring Owen in this picture?”_

_It was clear by now that Chase has his mind completely occupied by the plan._

_“Bree will have texted him to come. Because she will need to talk, or something”_ ,  _I prompted._

_“But she doesn't… Oh!”_

_“That's when you let her go, Chase! You hear me? At the second she sees him, you have to get out of the way. Graciously!”_

_“I'm always gracious.”_

_I eyebrowed him for good measure. He frowned._

 

I quickly approached an ice-cream truck and ordered one cone. I observed Owen enter the perimeter and scoot for Bree while I paid. I opened my treat carefully and started to follow the target. The meeting point I had given him through Bree's phone was close to the place I had set up for Bree's and Chase's fortunate encounter. Close enough for me to eavesdrop on them, far enough for Owen to get impatient and start looking for her.

“…haven't really been myself either”, Chase was saying in his serious teacher tone, “but that's okay, because the glitches are gone. The illness is gone. The crazy is… No more crazy, ok?”

“But Chase…”, she resisted.

It made sense that she would and I had also prepared my brother for this eventuality.

“I know you might have been under the impression that it was… something more… intense”, he cut her off. “But you and I, Bree, come on, that would have never worked.”

And he actually managed to laugh. Gotta admit, I was impressed. Bree cringed and then…

“Where is Marcus?”

Chase looked around, panicked. None of them could see me through the crowd.

“It's fine, Bree”, Chase tried.

“He ran off!”, she shouted, but I heard there some of their old brother-sister dynamic. The plan was still working.

“No”, Chase shot back, “Marcus, he… he went for Owen and…”

“Owen?”

And that is when he heard her.

When he waved at her.

When she saw him.

And behind him, me.

With the evilest look I could put on my face.

 

_“Having them stand together in the middle of a Fair won't do any good. We need to push it one step further.”_

_“Yes!”, I said, triumphant. “You are actually starting to think like an evil genius, Chasey. Beware!”_

_“Don't call me Chasey!”, he whined. But he was proud. I am sure of it._

_“What do you all Davenports in common?”_

_“We are all super cool”, he proposed, smug, “though, that would not apply to Davenport.”_

_“It would really only apply to Bree and Adam. Care to try again?”_

_“I don't…”_

_“You have a super-hero complex. You, Bree, Adam, your dad, even Leo. You're not happy unless you are saving someone. And that makes you special.”_

_“We would be happy without that”, he commented, so calmly that I actually believed him._

_“But you are special. And you want to save the world because you care.”_

_“So if Bree thinks she is saving Owen…”_

_“… She might start to care about him again!”, I concluded, refusing to let him steal all the glory for my scheme._

 

“MARCUS!”, she yelled.

I just saw half of Owen's face when he searched around for me. Priceless. Bree ran towards us… surprisingly slowly for someone with her talents and stopped in front of Owen, Chase right behind her. I managed to arrive at Owen's spot right when they did, still ostentatiously licking my ice-cream.

 

_There was one fact that Chase did not know. One simple guess my super-hearing had picked up at the time and put somewhere safe for later use. One stupid idea that would change the outcome of the whole scene. Bree could figure it out, if Chase were not busy perturbing her with his weird break-up of some sort…_

 

…She hadn't. Now things would follow their course. The one I had set for them.

“Marcus.”

Owen kept his tone neutral. Yes, everything was going according to plan. A huge smile appeared on my face.

“So you guys are dating now”, he added, glancing at Bree and me. “You guys have my bles…”

“WHAT?”, Bree and Chase interrupted, suddenly looking like a harmonious couple. Or twins.

Chase turned to Bree, interrogation and disgust all over his face. Bree turned to Owen, about to set everything right, and realized from his body language that he had made his mind. Denying would only bring more drama. She turned to Chase. Googly eyes and gaping mouth were definitely not his best features. Aside from the fact that his behavior had just erased the great speech he had just fed her. Here they were, right where they were yesterday. In a public place. Under the sunlight. The Chase game was definitely over. My chess game was, too.

My hand freed the cone who crashed down right on Owen's shoe. That part, I had not anticipated, but even better. Chase's and Owen's gazes naturally followed the fall, just for a second. And by the time, they looked up, Bree was out of sight. We barely felt the blow of the wind as she dashed away.

“Bree!”, Chase called, now drawing attention on him.

Seemed like a good time for me, too, to take the French leave. I quickly caught up with the girl and we silently super-speeded side by side, unable to outrace each other. Now the real date could begin…


	9. Boys will be boys (part 2)

_Marcus_

After a while, we silently circled back to Long Beach. There was no place we could stop or slow down, or people would see us. I don't think either of us wanted to anyway. Bree ran fiercely, as if she was leaving everything behind. Traveling at the same speed, I could see how truly beautiful she was. Knowing that I was probably the only human, well, android, on the planet who could see her like that filled me with excitement. Her flushed cheeks were the only make-up she needed right now. The natural pink of her perfect lips, slightly apart to catch her breath, contrasted with the soft shining gold of her skin. With her hair floating upon her shoulders and her brown eyes set on the horizon, she looked like a painting…

She glanced at me. Self-awareness flooded my veins. I cannot tell what she saw but she unclenched her teeth:

“Get a clue, Marcus. And get lost!”

Fair enough.

“I kinda feel like being alone right now”, she completed and sharply turned her face in my direction. Watery eyes. Stunning. She raised an eyebrow as a corner of her mouth twisted into a smirk. How many seconds had passed before I put my thoughts together?

“You should have said so twenty minutes ago”, I said. She rolled her eyes. “Can't do that on the beach or in a festival. Come with me?”. I presented my hand to her, still running.

She considered it doubtfully, with a hint of despise. Right.

“I have Chase's super-senses, so I know where you are going when you use you super-speed. And I can keep up, obviously. But if you don't take my hand, I will leave you behind.”

She grabbed two of my fingers. And I directed her directly towards the sea. She screamed, of course, but that was half of the fun. An infinitely small half, compared to her expression of awe and genuine joy when she found out that our speed allowed us to stay on the surface.

“Marcus, we are walking on the sea”, she giggled.

“Yes, we are, Cupcake”, I replied, “and there's more.”

She looked at me, intrigued, while I slowed our pace and let the water slowly surround us. She gasped; my heart skipped a beat. Soon only our heads were above the water.

“Do you trust me?”, I asked.

“Absolutely not”, she laughed and let go of my hand.

“Well… that's too bad”, I threatened and jumped at her with my best battle cry.

She screamed as I put my hands on her shoulders and pushed her under the water. I opened my eyelids under the water and adjusted my vision. Bree was still, mouth and eyes closed, trying not to let the salty water in. With a shy smile on her lips and her brown hair floating around her face, she very much could have been a mermaid. I was starting to wonder if there was ever a time when Chase's sister was not pretty.

_“Bree…”_

She opened her mouth when she heard me speaking with such clarity. By reflex, she automatically brought her hands to her throat, already persuaded she was going to choke. I gave her a few seconds. When she realized we could breathe under water as well, she tried to speak:  
“Whbly cabln blI heablr byou fblinebl?”

_“Well, you know how you can imitate voices, right?”_

“Blyes!”  
_“It is kind of the same principle. These sounds… you just do not hear them the same way you hear the others. I think even Chase cannot.”_

“Blultrbla… _Ultrasounds?”_ , she guessed.

I nodded vigorously.

 _“I think it is supposed to help for submarine vision. Apparently, our chips can emit and decode them”_ , I explained.  _“Our own secret language, sort of”_ , and I threw my most underwater disarming smile, which, believe it or not, required at least four good hours of practice.

A careful grin played on her face. Good enough. I waved at her to follow me and we both swam deeper in the ocean, soon to be surrounded by aquatic life. Bree kept pointing at things and making excited sounds every time she spotted a new fish. The plan was still on rails. I repeated the steps in my mind, immensely satisfied of how well everything had worked out.

First: Eliminate. Chase and Owen would not show their faces in front of Bree for a while. And okay, it was bad to have used them the way I did. But, frankly, neither of them could accuse me of having set this one up. I would just have to play dumb when Chase would ask if I knew Owen thought Bree and I were together.

Second: Isolate. Well, couldn't do any better than that. The location mattered, but mostly, Bree and I now shared something nobody else could.

Three: Amaze. Bree was following a turtle who was quickly moving out of her way. Yep, done and done!

Four: Share… Right!

 _“You had not discovered this Bionic yet, right?”_ , I started.

_“No. It's not an easy one to find. For a few seconds before, I really thought I was gonna die. Davenport would not let us go on a mission underwater without proper gear. And… yeah”_

And Chase would go ballistic, was what she had wanted to say. Somehow, even with nobody around, he was still between us.

 _“Do you think it is a good thing?”_ , I prompted again.  _“That Davenport protects you so much you still do not know the extent of your powers?”_

 _“Of course”_ , she replied automatically,  _“I am an android, which means I am human. I want to be treated like a person… like an impossibly dramatic teenager”_. She giggled.

_“My dad… Douglas, he insisted that I hone my skills as fast I could. Of course, I didn't know what I was back then, so some things he was asking me to do sounded impossible.”_

She looked at me intently, inviting me share more. The memories all came back at once.

 

“Marcus, you are four years old now. You should be able to swim with your head under water now.”

“But, daddy, t'is scawy.”

Daddy grabs my shoulders. He pushes my head towards the water. I don't think I like bath time anymore. Daddy used to be nice and funny. It is five days now that I do not like bath time. And seven days is a week.

“Marcus. It is the same thing that happened with dinner. For ten days, you said you could not jump high enough to grab it. And now, you catch it on the first time almost every night.”

I do not like the game with the dinner, too. It makes my tummy hurt because of the hunger.

“One more time, buddy!”, he says and smiles.

And it gives me courage, so I put my head under the water to make dad happy. I try and try to stay longer but then my chest hurts. I want to stop and I want to tell daddy, but you cannot speak with your mouth and nose under the water. I am so scared I want to cry, but daddy holds longer.

Then he pulls me out. I try not to cry; he gets angry when I cry.

 

 _“I didn't know”_ , Bree said, and even with ultrasounds, she sounds like she is whispering.

 _“I do not want your pity”_ , I warned her, suddenly feeling defensive.

Sea water invaded my lungs. The salt burned my throat. I choked and started thrashing, goggle-eyed. In a matter of seconds, Bree swam by my side and caught me by my waist. She then proceeded into gaining enough speed to bring both of us to the surface.

“Bree! I can't… breathe”, I whined, pathetically.

“Hang in there! We will be on land in no time”, she commanded, finding the direction to the beach in no time.

It seemed like it took us forever to reach the sand, even though I knew that Bree was running faster than she had ever been. I was not even sure I could have kept up with her at that speed.

“Bree!”, I called.

“Don't talk until you can lie down! We're almost there, Marcus!”

I was not used to having my body betraying me. Weakness and shame fought for my attention in my mind. I was just so tired, so ready to give up everything to be able to close my eyes and sleep. I could barely keep my head up. I opened my eyes again when I felt the warm sand over my back. Bree sat next to me, her hair still wet and dropping salty water on my forehead. Or were those tears?

“Bree… Don't tell… the others… about my dad”, I begged between two spits of water.

She just nodded and removed a lock of my hair from my eye.

“What happened?”, I asked, a little distracted.

“Well, someone glitched”, she said in a provocative tone.

“I don't have glitches”, I shot back, attempting to smirk and ending up coughing badly. 

She laughed: “Sure, you don't”.

And I didn't. But I sure knew how to fake them.


	10. Back-ups

_Bree_

Honestly, I did not know who I was the most afraid of: Leo or Chase. I mean, sure, Chase had been somewhat irrational lastly; but I believed him when he had said he was trying to move on. And he always had been highly logical about mission tactics. He could not miss to see how our strategy was for the best. Leo would be much much harder to convince.

“So, what's the big deal, Big D.?”, said-Leo asked.

“Guys, I know Marcus living with us has required some… adjustments. But my genial plan, as usual, is working. One of Marcus' old contacts tried to get in touch with him yesterday. Marcus played along and they agreed to meet and discuss the last phase of Doug's plan. You're leaving for South America!”

“Me too?”, Leo shouted, all excited.

“No!”, Davenport replied. “Adam, Bree and Marcus.”

Followed ten seconds of really awkward silence, before Chase finally took the bait and said in a flat tone:

“What?”

He had been sitting on the lab's counter for most part of the afternoon, sulking, and not talking to anyone. It was almost surprising to hear him speak out loud now. I decided he should hear it from me.

“Chase”, I started, but he did not turn his head in my direction, “Marcus has to come with us. He knows the place, our contact, and he might help pick up clues we would miss by ourselves.”

“I understand why he has to come”, he replied.

“I still don't”, Leo added.

“Where I am not following”, Chase continued as if he had never been interrupted, “is why I am not going.”

He had clenched his hands into knuckles and he grinded his teeth between each sentences. His breath was accelerated. I wanted so much to hold him against me right now and tell him that everything would be okay, that he could never be replaced. I breathed in loudly, but no one thought much of it, since the situation was probably equally upsetting for all our family. I observed Chase intently, worried that he might pick up my turmoil through my heartbeat, but he seemed to keep his promise not to listen, so I let myself fall all over in love with him freely. To feel again the ache of having his whole attention just for me, of brushing his fingers almost inadvertently, of kissing away his tears and to finally be entitled to have all these feelings for myself felt both exhilarating and unbelievably sad.

“Chase, you are still not suited for field missions”, Davenport explained. “You had a panic attack last week in the middle of a Fair. Tasha had to give you a lift to go home.”

“Am I the only one here who sees how wrong this is?”, Leo shouted, in a very different way he had earlier. “So, now, we trust Marcus? After everything he has done to us? To me?”

“Leo…”

But Leo ignored his stepdad and exited the lab as loudly as he could. Chase watched him go and then spoke again, still doing a good job at hiding his tension:

“He has a point.”

“We thought about that”, Davenport answered. Too fast. “I will deactivate his chip so he will not be able to use his bionics while he will be away. Besides, we now know that Marcus has his own reasons to be wanting to stop his dad.”

As I expected, Chase got more information from that sentence that our tutor had wanted him to.

“You discussed this before now?”, he stated, beginning to crack.

“You can still be our annoying little leader from here, remotely”, Adam proposed with a smile, at the worst possible moment.

Chase sighed. A long, depressing sigh. He slid of the counter and proceeded to follow Leo, at a desperately slow pace, like we had sucked all the energy out of his body.

“I don't think I can, Adam. Leadership only works if the trust goes both ways.”

“Chase, I understand you feel betrayed. But we have to figure out Marcus' dad's plan before it is too late. And you…”, I tried again.

“And I'm a liability.”

The ‘because I love you’ hung in the air, between us, for a couple of seconds. He quickly turned away, but kept on:

“Betrayed? You are going up against our nemesis and you expect me to stay in the lab and watch you. Bree, if something happens to you or Adam, and I cannot do anything about it because _you all_ decided it was better for me to  _watch_ , how I am supposed to live with that?”

He left the lab. When the doors of the elevator hid his back from our view, I found myself wishing he had kept on tuning to my heart. At least, he would have known how much we… how much I cared for him. I played in my mind with the possibility of running after him, but what good would that be for us? ‘We’ could still never be. And if Chase was trying to move on, I owed him to try and do the same.

 

 

“Can you see him?”, Adam whispered above my shoulder.

“No, he followed her in the room”, I whispered back.

“Can you hear them?”, he asked again.

“No. The walls are too thick. I wish…”

“I know. Me too.”

Marcus had had us following him closely since we had entered the facility. But he had also warned us to stay out of sight. However, he had conveniently forgotten to mention that his contact was a stunning red head with green cat's eyes. From the way she had acted around him, it had looked like they had known each other for quite a long time and that she was about our age. An unpleasant tingle was creeping up my cheeks. The door opened again and Marcus' head appeared behind it. With his hand, he signaled us to join him.

“Could be a trap”, Adam said.

“We're stronger and faster than anyone that could be in this room”, I said to cheer him up.

Chase's absence was really starting to take its toll. The room Marcus greeted us into turned out to be an austere meeting room. Grey walls, marble table, leather black chairs and creepy neon lights. The red head presided the table, though it was clear from the position of her arms and legs that she was tied to her chair.

“Bree, Adam”, Marcus announced with his usual cocky tone, “meet my contact and good friend Lydia. Lydia, allow me the pleasure to introduce to you my brother and sister.”

“Where is the third one?”, she spat, throwing for good measure a venomous look at Marcus.

“He's shy”, Marcus spat back, then faced us. “Sorry it took me some time. It was a little hard to take care of her without the usual.”

“So you found out about your powers?”, Lydia questioned him, now obviously pleased to take the advantage. Marcus simply went to her and tied the knots around her hands harder. Her smile faded.

“Are you our sister, too?”, Adam wondered.

“Hell, no!”, she replied and laughed. “I was raised by a normal family; I don't have to put up with all that crazy.”

“So you chose to be evil?”, he wondered again, and for the second time, her smile vanished.

“I can see what you see in them”, she engaged Marcus in a casual tone. “They are just so full… of good feelings. It is nice for a change.”

“You have no idea”, he admitted.

It really felt like they were catching up. And it was obvious that they had been really close some time ago. The whole thing was getting on my nerves.

“Enough small talk!”, I spoke up, finally taking the lead. “Why did you contact Marcus? What are we doing here? What is Doug's last phase? You've made it clear that you were glad not too have any bionics? Good for you! Now let's see how long you can hold your breath under water!”

She exchanged with Marcus a knowing glance. I got furious. In a second, I had my two hands pressing on her arms, my face really close to hers.

“Speak!”, I muttered.

She kicked me with her head.

“Well, someone's temper hasn't improved”, Marcus chuckled.

“Try to be polite while you are tied to a chair, bozo!”, she said with a disturbing smile on her face.

It suddenly hit me that Marcus was her "Chase"; Lydia was Marcus' Bree. Then everything started to rumble. The walls and ground vibrated, causing Marcus and Adam to lose balance. I heard a huge crack and turned to find the table broken in its middle. The chairs rolled towards the center of the room and bumped into what remained of the conference table. My bionics allowed me to stay on my two feet and I sought to get an answer from Lydia this time. 

“What's going on?”

“You're too late.”, she replied, smug, “The rocket's gone. I'll see you soon, sweetie.”

She showed me one side of the rope that used to hold her prisoner. The vibrations must have loosened the knots, I had the time to think, before she punched me again, with her hands this time. I fell on my back and watched her leave the room, powerless, as I struggle to collect my thoughts. Another loud noise distracted me again. I looked up as a whole piece of the ceiling plunged towards me. I heard someone scream my name and closed my eyes and in the darkness of my imminent death, admitted to myself: ‘I should have had a taste of his lips.’ I felt like someone swept me away. My eyelids opened to Marcus' mission suit. I recognized his smell from the time I had saved him from drowning: warm, fruity, a little sour, not unlike red berries tea or something. Adam stood by Marcus' side, eyes wide opened in stupor.

“Marcus! You…”

“You are welcome!”, he said, interrupting me. “No need to thank me, Cupcake, we're even!”

“I thought Davenport had blocked your abilities.”

“He thought he had. I have back-up chips. Using them was not my intention. I was really trying to deserve your trust.”

“That is not…”

“You have to understand, Bree. Chase… is not the only one who could not forgive himself if something happened to you.”

“We've lost. Again.”, Adam complained, clueless.

“I am sorry, Adam”, I said softly, thankful he had interrupted Marcus'… moment. Where did he think he was going with his declaration?

“That is not entirely true”, Marcus rectified, with his smug face back on, but somehow still not letting me go. “She dropped her cellphone. That's two prizes of high value I picked up today! So I declare this mission a definite win”, he added.

I struggled to break free of Marcus' arms and headed towards our exit point. I really hoped none of the guys had seen me blushing…


	11. The importance of being Chase

Chase

“I don't know, Leo. I don't really feel like going to a dance.”, I whined.

“And this, my bestest of friends, is exactly why you need one.”, he replied, pointing emphatically at the poster hung in the hallway.

“The problem about school dances is that everybody from school goes.”

“Exactly! Everybody! That means you and your sorry…”

“Let's all go together!”, Adam shouted cheerfully.

Leo and I just had the time to dive to avoid his hug.

“But Bree?”, I whispered to my stepbrother.

It was bad enough that Marcus' plan had been a complete failure and with it, my attempt to tell her I was moving on. For a second there, I had actually believed I had been telling her the truth, that the storm had been behind, but when Owen had implied… Leo nudged me in the arm. 

“We'll go over this only once, Chase, okay? She's going alone, too. If the situation changes, I'll let you know. In the meantime, you're going”, he whispered back.

“I still don't know how to dance.”

“I'll be your personal coach, and this time, we certainly won't be running after the same girl. But you're going.”

“But Leo, I should stay away from…”

“I don't care. You're going.”

“Fine”, I said, slightly annoyed, and yet not completely able to suppress a smile.

It was nice that he cared, to feel like someone still did. And it would certainly take my mind off being cut off from the field missions. Some part of me was thankful that I could avoid these forced interactions with Bree, but in my case, ignorance wasn't bliss. I meant what I had said to Davenport: watching my siblings put themselves in danger and not being able to help was the worst form of torture I could think of. I was the one with the protection force field! I was the one who was responsible for protecting them! These missions were also the only times where it was acceptable for me to spy on Bree and Marcus. I had not entirely decided if I shared Owen's opinions on the new status of their relationship, but I had caught myself several times paying more attention to the way they behaved around each other, than to the obstacles that could threaten their lives…. To the extent where I was not entirely sure how I was feeling about Marcus rescuing Bree. Guilty, obviously. Jealous, definitely. Relieved?

“Chase! Chase! Chase!”, Leo was chanting really close to my face, making me jump. “Say it! Say it! It's gonna be awesome! Say it!”

“It's gonna be awesome.”

_Bree_

 

_I couldn't help but be impressed. The organizers had covered all the walls with dark blue drapes, picked with silver stars. They had also hung some bigger ones from the ceiling. With the white puffing smokes rolling around our ankles, walking into the cafeteria really felt like floating in a summer night sky. I know Adam and Leo would have called me vain for thinking this, but I was really glad I had set my choice on the soft purple-blue dress, rather than on the red one. It simply fell to the ground, almost covering my feet and was cut on one side, just enough to reveal the silver bracelet I was wearing on my left ankle. The piece of jewelry itself matched the one I had around my neck and I had done my hair upright so it would be plenty visible. I felt a little stupid, standing there by myself, all alone. I was fighting the desire to sit and hide, getting stronger every second, until I heard his voice behind me._

 

Chase

 

“So, what do you think?”, I asked.

Under the pretext of not wasting the clothes, I was wearing the exact same tuxedo I had worn two eternities ago when Bree and I had impersonated a couple in Paris. Following Leo's suggestions, I had unbuttoned the vest and the first two buttons of my black shirt. My white tie was loose around my neck and he had pinned a red rose on my pocket to “offer it to a cute girl”, he had said.

Bree giggled. I wonder what she was thinking. Something in her expression was worried and yet excited. And somehow it was worrying and exciting. I felt sparkles all around us, as if the room was overloaded with energy.

 

_Bree_

 

_I didn't turn around. I knew the voice well enough._

_“So, he said again. We are in a bit of a situation, here. Bree…”, he breathed out my name in my neck. I shivered._

_“How so?”, I asked and my voice sounded way too calm, almost as if someone else had answered for me._

_“Well, you promised you wouldn't tell anyone. But it was obvious Davenport knew… How are you going to make up for it?”_

_I could hear the grin in his tone. I had never thought he would see my sharing his story as a betrayal. I wanted to face him and talk this out, but I felt like it would only make things worse. Better play along._

_“I don't have to do anything”, I replied sharply. So much for following the flow._

_“Well”, he said, “let's play a game.”_

She barely moved and I could see her breathing was ragged. What I would have given to hug her right now… “Come on, Chase! We've been over this!”, I scolded myself, “For Bree's sake, you should never ever act again on your feelings”. As I let go of the intensity of the untold link that tied me to Bree, I felt the remaining excitement about the party wither… and die.

“Dude, you're staring!”, Leo chimed in as he sat next to me at one of the tables, which had all been pushed against the walls for the occasion. He swiped the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve. How long has he been dancing without a break? How long had I been ‘staring’?

_“A game?”, I repeated, astounded._

_“Sure thing! If I win, you apologize. If you win, you're off the hook!”_

_“What kind of game?”, I wondered out loud, unsure._

_“It's really easy”, he started explaining in a condescending manner that had the hair on the back of my neck stand. “You walk five steps away from me, then face me. I ask you ten questions. You can discard three of them, but if you do so, you need to do three twirls. Each time. For the seven others, if you don't answer or lie, you take one step towards me. If you tell the truth, you can stay in place.”_

_“If I reach you, I lose. Am I right?”_

_“Yes.”_

_I knew the guy well enough to figure out the whole thing was rigged. But at this very moment, I would have done anything to free myself from my guilt and his disappointment._

“Listen, man! You've got to stop. It's like you're not even trying.”

“Leave me alone, Leo. It was a bad idea to make me go anyways.”

“That's it!”

He stood up and stepped away from the table, obviously pissed off. Everything was obvious about Leo. Even if you tried hard, there was just no ignoring him.

“What?”, I called him back, now also feeling the rage dangerously building inside my head.

“Dude! Do you know what's been going on in my life, say, these past two weeks?”

“Huh?”. Not my brightest comeback.

“You know what? Let's start with an easier question. Who is my date?”

“Your date?”

I was quickly realizing how much Adam had to struggle every day, with Bree and I talking so fast, and like a thought immediately called for another idea. Maybe she and I were just too much alike, too in sync to realize our bionic brother could not follow. Leo and I were definitely not in sync right now.

“Yes, Chase. My date! For the dance? Who is it?”

“It's… hmm… Janelle?”

“Educated guess. But no, she's here with Ethan.”

“With who?”, I blurted out, puzzled.

“My point exactly, bro. Now quit feeling sorry for yourself and go back to being the smart and altruist version of Chase we all used to like. Because, honestly, I am growing tired of this one!”

He left without another word. _He had evidently planned this. The succession of questions was way too fast for him to have the time to come up with them. Somewhere along the lines, I could also detect some sort of strategy coming out of the topics he chose to ask about._

_“You told everyone because you felt sorry for what my da… Douglas did to me, didn't you?”_

_“Yes.”_

_“You thought it would make them trust me the way you already do. True?”_

_One step forward._

_“Do you love Chase?”_

_“Yes, of course.” There was nothing specific about this question._

_“As more than a brother?”_

_He got me. Discarding the question would be the same as lying. I sensed he already knew the answer to all of his questions as well. I decided to keep my joker and stepped forward._

_“Do you think Chase has … feelings for you?”_

_I had never been sure if he had or if he was enjoying the fact that I did. With everything that had happened, I was not sure of anything anymore._ I decided tomorrow would be good enough to make up for being a bad brother and not the bestest of friends to Leo and focused my attention on Bree, just as she was spinning. Maybe a little too fast for a supposedly normal human being, but it was barely noticeable. Unless you were already staring, of course. She stopped facing the exact same direction she had started from, though she looked a little dizzy and distraught. Her cheeks were a little too red to be flushed by the heat in the unaired room. A few feet away from her, Marcus was looking at her, intently, as if Bree were a prey and a prize.

_“Do you think Owen believes you and I are together?”_

_“Yes”, I sighed and I already knew what the next question was._

_“Do you care?”_

_He had barely finished that I had already stepped forward. I wanted this game to be over, whoever was the winner. I was not sure there would be any._

_“Are you attracted or disgusted by the idea of us being together?”_

_This wasn't a fair question. We both knew it. But Marcus was speeding up. I turned three times as fast as I could without betraying my bionics. I couldn't tell if it was the heat or the turns or the questions, but I was starting to lose my balance. I kept my gaze focused on Marcus' face, everything around becoming blurry._

_“If you hadn't known me before, you would have dated me.”_

_Not even a question. But still, one step forward._

_“Chase… or me?”, he growled with some kind of a tremor in his voice._

_And then it hit me. I had won. I still had one joker to discard the question. Or I could reach him, let him win and he still would never have the answer to the one question he had planned all this game around. I had all the cards in my hands. I took a long, deep breath and finally met his expectant gaze._ And here they were, just two feet apart from one another, looking into each other 's eyes like they would find there everything that they had ever needed. With Leo AWOL, I figured I didn't have any reason to stick around any longer. I left my seat, slowly, trying to look like I had somewhere to go when I was just running away from an upcoming disaster. I walked, stiff, towards the exit, entirely focused on blocking out my surroundings. Especially Bree and Marcus. I was almost in the hallway when the excited gasps caught me off guard. I considered tuning in to Bree's heartbeat, one very last time, but decided against it. There was no need to be a super human to figure out they had k…


	12. Meet the Davenports

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man, I love this chapter!

_Marcus_

If you didn't know the Davenports, you wouldn't have been able to see anything wrong in the picture we offered. Slumped on the couch, quietly watching an afterschool special on TV, we looked like your normal American family. Maybe you would have found a little odd that Bree's hand had found mine behind a cushion; but we both appeared so intently focused on the screen that you would have brushed it off. Perhaps you would have wondered how the 16-year-old sitting on the other side of Bree could want to watch the same programs as his little brother, half-sat on the armchair. If you didn't know the Davenports, you would have been easily persuaded that some stupid show about vampires' and werewolves' high school had brought all of us together. That we, Davenports, were respectful, united and happy. If you didn't know them. Us, that is. But I had spent most of my life studying them more than anyone else, and the heavy silence was painfully obvious.

Not that I cared, really. First, because some peace and quiet was overdue in this house. Second, because… I had Bree's soft and warm skin against my palm. Because I could smell the shampoo on her hair, on the couch, on my shoulder almost, that her head occasionally brushed against. Yeah, because in this instant, Bree was everything. And yet, without a word being said, Chase's absence was deafening.

“Hey! We said it was my turn.”

Leo's complaint drew me out of my thoughts. Bree looked like she was also just coming back to Earth. She swiftly entangled her fingers from mine. On the other side of the couch, Adam ostensibly pointed the stolen remote towards the TV set and switched to Discovery Channel. Did anyone but Leo actually like this show?

“You don't even LIKE kangaroos!”, he accused to back up his first argument.

“You're right”, Adam replied. “But I like watching you try to grab the remote.”

“Breeeeee”, the youngest whined.

“Huh huh. I know better than to go between you two…”, she said with a hint of a smile. It faltered when she added: “I don't really care what we watch, anyways.”

Leo glanced at me, weighing between his desire to go back to his show and the cold indifference he had been treating me with since Chase's… defection. To be honest, I really didn't mind the cold treatment. But ultimately, I needed all odds in my favor.

“What if I team up with Leo?”, I offered. “Will you know better than try and keep the remote?”  
“Two tiny men don't make a tall man”, Adam countered.

I turned to face Leo: “They don't?”, I asked, puzzled.

Adam looked confused for a few seconds. That's when Leo and I yelled and attacked… And for a second there, with Bree's giggles adding to the chaos, I actually forgot the cadet of the family. Just for a second, because then, the door from the lab slid open to let enter a really tired Pr. Davenport and Tasha. And all the pain that had momentarily lifted from Bree's tensed visage was visible on theirs. And in a matter of nanoseconds, the living-room filled up with silence again. Even if you didn't know the Davenports, you would have known then something was off. Losing a child would do that to every normal family, after all. No matter how many they gained in the process.

“Have you found him?”, Bree whispered, not even trying to mask her agitation.

Davenport looked through her.

“Donald was able to retrieve some information from Lydia's phone.”, Tasha started.

“Yes. Yes… Whatever plan my evil brother cooked up in his sick mind, the final step is set to happen in Time Square. Tomorrow night.”

“But the place will be crowded by tourists.”, Leo interrupted.

Again, Davenport ignored him. He sounded like he was talking to someone who wasn't there. I guess he was.

“Kids”, he continued and finally acknowledged our presence, “I hate to send you to the field with so little information.”

“We need to stop my father, no matter what. It is a family matter that we need to resolve. Internally.”, I answered.

I felt Bree's glance slide on my body at my words. She then proceeded to stare at Davenport instead.

“What do we know?”

“We know from Lydia it involves a rocket. We also have to assume that civilians are the main target. We suspect Douglas might have back-up in Times Square. But if I know him, it is probable he will be nowhere near when the rocket… hits. So the plan is for you to be ready at all times to evacuate all the people all while monitoring the sky.”

“Keep your eyes open for Lydia”, I suggested. “If I know her at all, she will definitely be right in the middle of this mess.”

“That's not all”, Tasha began again, slowly.

“We have to assume, with Chase running away, that there might be a possibility that he could have joined… that he might be a part of…”

Donald did not get the courage to complete the sentence. According to Adam's and Bree's tense expressions, he had said enough. As we mechanically walked to the elevator to get our gear in the not-so-secret lab, Tasha grabbed my arm.

“Bring my son home!”, she simply said.

From behind her, I heard Leo's addition: “You might not know my mother well, Marcus, but let me tell you how it goes. In this family, we all know better than to disobey.”  
“I'll remember that.”, I mumbled before breaking free and entering the elevator.


	13. Chase's Mate

_Bree_

 

Nobody dared to exchange a word in the jet to New York City. Even Leo, on the intercom, remained mute. If Chase were here, or even there, he would have insisted we go over the plan one more time. But then again, if he were, he would have had to fight with Leo for right of speech. But Chase was nowhere to be found. He didn’t even leave a letter, a word of explanation. And though his behavior might make sense to me, or in a way, to Leo, he should have known better than to let me deal with the fallout. Should have known that my responsibility in his disappearance, and the secret that surrounded it, would eat at me. Would make my heart bleed dry through my eyes just to fill up overnight and be ready for the same torture the very next morning.

Chase was nowhere to be found. This, was the new us. This, was a ‘us’ where I was sort of secretly dating Marcus and where Leo was a disturbingly quiet kid. A ‘us’ who would be in no way spending time dwelling in sorrow when I had that nagging feeling that the world’s future was at stake. The imminence of this potentially worldwide catastrophe was not giving me much time to process my feelings for Marcus either. Maybe it was for the best. Because it was difficult to think about the one being at my side without thinking about the one that got away. To think that only three weeks ago, Marcus was still my enemy. That Chase was still my brother. That our family wasn’t broken. So, okay, maybe this new ‘us’ could deal with all the changes, maybe there would be, in a few years from now, a full hour when none of us would be thinking about Chase. But maybe it was asking too much of me to go graciously through all the process in a matter of days. Maybe I was also entitled to have a hard time letting go.

“Adam, what’s your status?”

“Nothing here.”

“OK. Keep surveying the sky. Marcus?”

“Same. Everything’s normal.”

“Nothing to report from my location either. Is it possible that we are not waiting at the right location?”

“Or at the right time?”, Marcus suggested.

“Unfortunately, I am positive. Something should happen in the next 30 minutes.”, Davenport replied over the ‘comms.

Adam was positioned on top of the building. Since he didn’t have any ability allowing him to quickly identify individuals amongst the crowd, it had been easy to trust him with looking for the rocket and if possible, diverting its course. Marcus was using his super-senses to scan the tourists’ faces to identify Douglas, Lydia… or Chase. As for me, my super-speed allowed me to do the same by running through the groups without making myself known. After two hours of running around, we all started to get tired…

“Hello Marcus!”

I barely had the time to register Chase’s voice over Marcus’ ‘comm before a high-pitched sound violently hurt my ear. So unexpectedly loud that I stopped running and became visible for a while.

“Marcus! Marcus? Are you OK?”

“Bree, Marcus’ ‘comm is dead. I am not receiving signal”, Leo supplied for everyone from the lab.

“Maybe he needs help.”

I never thought that I would one day be rushing at Marcus’ sides to save him from Chase. This, was the new ‘us’, I repeated myself and dashed through the crowd to what I knew was Marcus’ latest position. Though it only took me a couple of seconds, I felt like I would never be able to reach them. In spite of my best efforts, I couldn’t help imagining the worst scenarios, couldn’t help wondering if only one had to survive in a death fight, which one I would root for. When I joined the boys, they were talking in a low voice, both perfectly alive and perfectly healthy. Almost disappointing. Almost… 

“…To challenge your new role with the family”, Chase concluded, and then he turned to face me.

“No… Spike.”

I could always tell when we were facing Chase’s commando alter ego: his expression hardened in an angry and disapproving feature.

“While I have no pleasure seeing any of you at the moment”, Chase replied, “your lack of enthusiasm hurts.”

He lost his playful smile in a blink. 

“I came to warn you. The rocket is not a bomb. It contains nanites.”

“Why are you telling us?”, I questioned while Marcus asked at the same time what the nanites were supposed to do.

“I was not able to investigate that far. What do you mean, Bree? Aren’t you trying to stop Douglas’ plan?”, Spike answered in a sharp tone, eyes focused on the starry night.

“Yes”, I hesitated, puzzled. “But… Spike, are you?”.

Understanding flickered through his face. And maybe some hurt, too. Maybe. He shrugged.

“The commando app doesn’t change my personality, Bree. Just because I enable it doesn’t mean I am turning evil.”

“But why? You left and…?”

He frowned, but his gaze remained directed to the stars.

“It is not like I am trying to recall bad memories, but you were not exactly letting me help. At some point, I figured that the best way to help and do what we were engineered to do… without being a liability to you all, that is… was to pursue our objectives on my own. Of course, you made that a lot easier.”

He glanced at Marcus, making it obvious in the meantime that he would avoid my gaze at all costs.

“As far as I know”, he continued, “there is no way for us to track this rocket. We are going to have to spot it by sight only. Which means that you are going to have to rely on Marcus.”

And him. Of course. But if he thought it, there were no trace on his face.

“Let’s complete this mission together”, he said again. “Then, it will all be over.”

Without another word, Spike turned around and we soon lost him in the crowd marveling at the ads all around Time Square. Marcus threw a questioning look my way, as if to ask ‘Are you okay?’. Strangely enough, I could not detect any hint of sarcasm in his expression. You know things are bad when Marcus-I-am-your-long-lost-evil-sibling gives you honest sympathy. I felt nothing.

“BREE! LOOK UP!”

Adam’s scream through the ‘comm suddenly reminded me the reason of our presence in the city. It would have been easy to confuse with a plane, or even a star, but for us, super humans, the rocket was as clear as day… In the middle of the night, or something. Marcus immediately took control of the situation.

“Adam. Blow that rocket as soon as you estimate your aim and firepower good enough. Bree, find the highest place you can reach and search the sky for nanites. We do not know what they do, so if a single one of them has been released, generate a small tornado to trap them above the civilians. Once they are contained, I can try and disable them with my force fields. Move! Move! Move!”

About twenty seconds later, a small explosion momentarily colored the skyline of Manhattan. Some of the tourists yelled in agony. Others in awe. Some began to run for cover. Others stood, motionless, their nose pointing towards this unexpected source of light in one of the most luminous places in the world. At the same time, I was also hit by some sort of enlightenment.

“Marcus?”, I asked through the ‘comm. “Why didn’t you remind us about the specifics of the commando app?”

“What?”, he replied, but something edgy in his voice betrayed that he had perfectly understood the question.

“No sight of nanites”, I supplied in an annoyed tone. Two could play that game.

“Because I did not know”, he finally explained.

“Guys, I think we saved the day”, Adam interrupted, clueless as ever, while Marcus pursued with his confession:

“It’s true I have all your bionics. So far. Some of them we probably don’t know about yet. But the commando app… I was never able to master it. Spike is something that is… unique to Chase.”

“Oh.”

Brilliant answer, Bree. If Chase was abusing the super-hearing again, he was probably laughing really hard right now. But… no. Chase was not listening in anymore. And Spike just didn’t care. 

“BREEEEE!”  
  
Spike? Maybe he did. And just when I was starting to consider the possibility of Spike’s having actual feelings, a second rocket, hidden in the shadow of the first one’s course, crashed in a building on my left.


	14. The Bionic-s-witch

_Marcus_

“Adam! Did you NOT see the second rocket?”

“Hello doofus! Your brother Adam is a little busy right now. Kisses!”

Lydia. Figures.

“Bree! I’ll go help Adam. Stick to the plan. You must prevent the nanites to make contact with the people below at all cost.”

I chose to ignore the screams of terror around me as I super-speeded towards Adam’s last known position. I knew without looking that the rocket was still stuck in the tower it had crashed in. I also knew the team would have to take care of it sooner rather than later. While Adam remained the priority, it was my responsibility to come up with a plan. And fast. Still something was off. I found myself incapable of focusing on anything. Sparkles flew through my brain, disrupting any attempt at a constructed train of thoughts. So I did something I thought I would never do. I decided to trust the Davenports.

“ADAM!”

I found the eldest of the bionic kids unconscious on the floor. Lydia stood next to him, an expression of sheer joy on her face. When she saw me, I thought I recognized a glint of stupor. Could be anguish, could be regret. Frankly, I didn’t care. Nobody gets to hurt and torment Bree’s brothers… but me! I jumped towards Lydia, but she quickly escaped out of reach, moving swiftly behind my back. She grabbed my arm from behind and pulled it above my head. I yelled in pain and was quickly completely paralyzed. My super-strength should have been able to break me free. Lydia giggled in my ear, sending shivers down my spine.

“You know, all the time we were sparring growing up, I never realized how much you were relying upon your bionics, even at an unconscious level.”

“How?”

“Neal? Come over here, sweetie!”

Now that she was certain I knew none of my bionics would work, and she had asserted her superiority, Lydia saw no threat in releasing me. As she motioned towards a corner of the roof hidden in shadows, a small form slowly walked until it reached Lydia. Neal had unusually long dark hair for a five-or-six-year-old boy. He wore loose clothes, which he stretched nervously with his fingers, completely oblivious to his incredible power.

“Neal, I want you to meet… Marcus. Marcus, this is Neal and the answer to your question.”

“As well as the cause of my predicament”, I said while rubbing my sore shoulder.

Neal threw me a tired look. The same kind Lydia used to make eons ago. And without my bionics, with Adam’s seemingly lifeless body on my left and a doomsday device about to blow up on my right, I was hit by my very first wave of nostalgia. The end of the world was turning out to be full of surprises. No wonder Chase… or Spike – whatever – was spending so much time gazing at the stars tonight.

“Marcus!”, Bree shouted in my ear. “The rocket is releasing the nanites. I have evacuated most of the plaza. Be ready to disable them!”

One glance at Lydia told me things would not go down smoothly.

“Bree… Adam and I are both temporarily unable to help. You’re gonna have to improvise.”

“Men…”, was her only reply and though she intended it as a joke, I could not help but hear the stress in her undertone.

I wondered if Lydia would agree to escort Adam and I to the ground. I sensed her only purpose in this mission was to maintain us in a disabled state. She waived in the general direction of the stairs, thus answering my silent question. I proceeded to balance my brother’s weight on my back under Lydia’s surveillance and checked the plaza occasionally where I could see Bree’s tornado forming. It seemed she was able to keep the nanites at bay. For now. As I reached the door leading to the ground floor, the rocket – or was it just a piece – moved again and landed in the middle of the roof, about twelve feet away from our opponents. Neal instantly began to shout and cry. Somewhere inside my spine, I felt the familiar surge of the bionics come and go, and was able to draw four conclusions of the chaos we were now facing.

One: Spike was still around, and if any doubt was left on the side he was taking, he’d just about cleared it.

Two: Neal’s ability only worked if he was close enough to his victims, since he had not been able to block Spike’s telekinetic bionic.

Three: Neal had not been trained the way Lydia and I had been. Yet. Which meant there were lots of options left to surprise him and return the situation to our advantage.

And four: Neal’s control over his ‘bionic’ – I was not sure how to call it at the moment – was unstable.

“MARCUUUS!”, I heard Lydia yell. I barely had the time to register the absence of hatred in her call as I ran to the edge of the building. Flames were now escaping the missile, as well as a sickening whistling sound that was not at all reassuring. We had to move fast. I knew she would have her own safe exit route… I jumped. Leap of faith. With Adam hunched on my shoulders. And the crazy hope that a 5-story building would put enough distance between the bionics’ killer and us. That by the time I reached the sidewalk, my bionics would be back online to help us out… I was wrong.

They say that the second before you die, you see your whole life pass before your eyes. I think they mean you are finally able to see without all its contingencies. You see it as you would like it to be told. Me? I saw the Davenports. I saw Tasha with a warming smile on her face. And Big D. being half-pissed by a half-sorry Leo. I saw Adam laughing at and with the two. I even saw Chase and the challenging look he always reserved for me, like a twin who would have competed with me to be the best at everything. And I saw Bree… the way I saw her running that day at the beach. And Lydia, too. A shy and soft expression on her face as she gently pushed Neal towards the family.

And then, I reached the ground. And all that was left of them was a deafening silence and a blinding red that slowly faded to dark.

“Marcus?”

So I had screamed in pain, after all.

“Marcus, are you OK? Adam? Adam?”

It took me two good seconds before I was able to breathe again. I stared at my left leg, crooked in an impossible angle under me. Panicking was not an option. As soon as I could speak again, I reassured Bree: we were both alive, but still both out of juice. I looked up to the eye of tornado where the nanites were supposedly trapped just when Spike’s blue force field hit them. The sparkles of electricity propagated up and down the artificial wind-prison. After a few minutes, the cyclone slowed down and finally vanished. Bree and Chase had saved the day.

But we were not out of trouble quite yet. Adam was still unconscious. I was in obvious need of medical attention. And Chase… remained unpredictable in a lot of ways. And as I was making those observations to myself, the piece of missile on the roof finally exploded. The entire structure shook on its base. For a moment, nothing moved. Then, with an excruciating slowness, the whole building began to crumble on itself. Huge pieces of concrete started to rain from the top of the skyscraper. The whole street was shaking, awakening the pain in my limb. On the other side of the plaza, the remaining piece of the rocket untangled itself from the tower and also started to fall towards the ground. We had won, but Times Square was falling apart.

The electrical pinch between my shoulders warned me that Neal – and probably Lydia – had left the scene. I promptly built my red force field around Adam and me, knowing well that I would not be able to sustain it against any serious impact with the pain that occasionally shot from my leg to my torso. “This is it”, I whispered to Adam. “This is how we die.” I closed my eyes again. A blue force field wrapped itself around mine, just in time to stop the pile of concrete about to meet my skull. Looking around, I spotted Spike on the other side of the plaza, a trembling hand thrown in our direction as his right one was held over his head, another force field protecting him from the debris falling from the tower near him.

In the middle of Times Square, Bree stood alone. From the movement of her breast, I could tell her breath was shortened by the effort she had furnished to create and maintain the tornado. And for the millionth time this night, I did something I thought I would never do: I used my super-hearing to listen to Bree’s heart again. Without any agenda or desire to measure the effect of my good looks on her. Just to know she was alright. That at least she would make it out of this alive. The beat was strong but not regular. Neither of them would be able to hold that much longer. Dust and small flames slowly fell down on Times Square. My girlfriend wiped something on her cheek, leaving a grey hand-shaped stain on her face. It would have been cute if it had not been for her teary eyes and the apocalyptic background. 

She turned to face Chase, for what felt like an eternity. And I knew some kind of invisible communication was taking place between the two of them. Then her heart stopped beating. And she made a choice.


	15. Someone to die for

_Bree_

 

“He’s gonna be OK.”, Marcus whispered. I expected him to put his arms around my waist or his chin on my shoulder and tensed in preparation for a contact that never came.

“I know… I just can’t help but…”

“…Feel guilty? I don’t know how you decided… but I have a feeling you have no reason to blame yourself.”

I was hovering at the door of Chase’s bedroom, leaning against the wall as I watched him sleep. He had been unconscious for a few days now. Luckily he had been able to maintain his two force fields in place long enough to protect himself while I was saving Marcus and Adam. By the time I went back to help him, the exhaustion had already gotten the best of him…

“Think he’s going to come back as Spike, or Chase?”, he asked. Still no trace of his usual jerkiness. Marcus’ kindness was unnerving.

“Chase.”, I replied, confident. “I saw it in his eyes before I turned around to rescue you. He was Chase again. There was no need to held onto the commando app anymore.”

“I see.”

I didn’t know what he was seeing, but it seemed he was not really pleased by it.

“Why me?”, he wondered out loud.

“You mean, why you and Adam? Instead of Chase?”, I stressed the “you” on purpose, more to taunt him than to drown the fact that I had had to choose between the two loves in my life.

“Safety in numbers?”, he teased with a knowing smile.

“How come you don’t have a commando app? Aren’t you supposed to be better than us?”

He swiftly walked past me, brushing my shoulder on his way over to Chase’s bed. He looked at him, a lot like a firstborn would look at his baby brother.

“I think”, he suggested, “that the commando app has been developed for teamwork. For the tough decisions one can be called to make, to save or sacrifice a member of the team. I was obviously designed to be self-reliant.”

“What a faulty little almost-human!”

He turned around and shot his best cocky smirk and raised eyebrow combination. I giggled quietly.

“I am going to leave”, he said, with a straight face this time.

I searched his eyes, looking for a hint that he might want me to make him change his mind, but he had his poker face on, with this new addition of tenderness radiating from him.

“I think I can speak for everyone when I say we would very much like you to stay.” 

It was neutral. No more ‘us’ in the mix anymore. Officially, we were still an item. But the conversation we were having – or not having – was shifting our whole relationship. I was not sure what I wanted anymore. Or, to be honest, I was finally letting myself see what I wanted. And what I longed for was currently making cute, tiny bubbles with his mouth, safely tucked in his bed.

“I know.”, Marcus proudly said. He seemed to ponder whether to add something. “You know, if I had a commando version of myself, like Chase does. I think ‘this’ would be it.”

He waved his arms a little around his torso.

“Makes sense.”, I said. “We could call you… Cotton, ‘cause this Marcus is obviously a softie.”

“Not funny.”, he muttered softly.

“Where are you… where would you go?”

“I think I want to find Lydia and Neal.”

“The little bionic switch?”

“Maybe it is too late to rescue her, but I want to believe I have a shot of sparing Neal the childhood Douglas put me through.”

“It was not too late to save you”, I said thoughtfully.

“I guess it wasn’t, cupcake.”

And then I decided I needed everything to be clear, in the open. There had been too much unsaid these past weeks, too many things we should have spent the time to tell each other.

“It was never about Chase, or you, for that matter. It is just… the first rule of teamwork. You” – I stressed it again, just to watch him flinch – “and Adam, you were assigned this mission with me. You relied on me as I relied on you to see it through. Chase… Spike… he came alone. He planned ahead to be ‘self-reliant’. In the end, it was a matter of ethics, sort of. Save the ones that are counting on you to save them, first. Chase always emphasized how we needed to trust and support each other during the missions…”

“So it was about Chase, after all.”, Marcus simply said.

Maybe. Not that it helped much, now, anyways. I was not sure that he would ever forgive me for sending him away.

“We’re breaking up, aren’t we, Cotton?”, I dared to ask, feeling that we both would appreciate the closure.

“We sure are. I think we were mistaken.”

He waited some time. I didn’t bite. He continued.

“I think there can be many reasons for a heart to beat fast. Or strong.”

“Or irregularly”, I supplied, to hide my embarrassment.

“As there can be many ways to love. But when you believed you were leaving Chase to die, Bree, your heart just stopped. For 5 good seconds.”

Marcus had stepped in my direction as he was speaking, but my gaze was fixated on Chase. Because Chase was everything.

“I think”, Marcus concluded, “that you love me the way you love Adam, or Leo. I don’t think it’s the same for Chase.”

“I hope it’s not the reason why you’re leaving.”, I told him and got the sarcastic eyebrow again.

“Not at all. I am going because I know I have a home to return to. And I want to give the same chance to Lydia. And perhaps, to Neal. I owe them to try.”

He walked around me again and I heard his footsteps faint in the hallway.

“Send my regards to the whole family for me, Bree! And talk to Chase! I mean it.” 

I turned around to ask him whom he thought he was to believe Tasha would let him go without a goodbye hug.  The hallway was empty.


	16. Marcus and Countermoves

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A long-ass chapter...

_Chase_

 

“Hey, Chase! Nice to see you again!”

It was always amazing how many friends you could make at school… while you were unexpectedly gone. Lust for gossips can bring you more friends than any other virtue.

“Hey yourself!”

What was that girl’s name again? Anais? Anita? 

“So how have you been?”, said girl asked, almost drooling at the thought of the juicy news she believed she would soon get to share with her posse.

“Medicated. Appendicitis. I had to keep the bed for the most part.”

“Oh! Bree said you were at some geniuses’ camp.”, she replied, trembling with excitement.

“That was a lie. There were some complications after the surgery. Not too bad, rest assured.” – like she cared. “But I asked Bree, Adam and Leo to hide the truth, at least until I recovered. I don’t really feel like talking about it. I don’t feel like talking about it at all, actually. 

She got the hint, quickly turned away and left without a good-bye, her shoulders slightly slumped with disappointment. How rude! It had been a week since Marcus had left the house, and although the Davenports insisted that he had changed, especially towards the end, I was having a hard time being sad about it. Sure, I put on a good show for the family. They were still processing his departure, after all. And I desperately wanted to belong again. We all healed rather slowly: Leo tried to be his least annoying self around me, as if he was afraid I would snap. Even Adam was still cautious with his incessant teasing.  As for the parents, Tasha showered me with motherly love more than she had ever done with Leo while Dadd… Dona… Mr. Davenport looked at me like I was some stranger, like the kid he was once proud of and does not recognize anymore. I knew I had amends to make. For acting out. For being a bad friend, a bad son, a bad brother. And I also knew patience had to be my motto. I had to sit this one out until they all felt comfortable enough to share with me their reproaches and complaints. And when that time would come, I would do my best to welcome all of it gracefully. Leo interrupted my internal pep talk on the way home.

“Chase! Wait for me! Let’s walk together.”

I just smiled at him, genuinely happy that he wanted to spend time with me.

“OK.”, he said. “I’m ready. I wanna hear it. Give it to me!”

“Wha?”, I questioned, puzzled by his declaration.

“Well, your speech of apologies, of course. This is it, right? The moment when you say how you are sorry that you were a terrible friend and an awful brother to your bestest of friends, me”, he ceremoniously pointed at himself, “Leo, a truly amazing, understanding and overall exceedingly forgiving individual.”

“And who didn’t even need any kind of genetic enhancement to come out that perfect.”, I added, a smirk forming at the corner of my lips.

“I think I even heard Big D. explain to Eddie that he wanted to ask my mum’s permission to sample my DNA in order to create a new super-species.”, he said, almost shouting in the streets.

“I am not sure the world can handle that much perfection.”, I replied softly.

“Sure it can. There are plenty of imperfections to counter the effects of my swag with the four of you.”, he joked, but he was serious again.

“I apologize for my behavior, these past weeks, Leo. It’s just… you know. If there was anything I could do to make it all go away, I would.”

“You just did!”, he yelled again, triumphant.

“I did?”

“Yes! You just accepted to help me enter the mathletes’ team. And only a true friend would do such a thing.”

“Does this have something to do with Janelle joining the team yesterday? And I didn’t agree to anything. We shouldn’t…”

“Possibly. And what happened to ‘if there was anything I could do, Leo, my dearest friend, my favorite brother, my…’?”

“Alright, alright, I’ll do it.”, I said, laughing, and frankly a little surprised at the sound of my own laughter.

It seemed it was communicative, because quickly, Leo started chuckling too.

“Perfect!”, he sang once we composed ourselves. “Let’s talk about it tomorrow morning on our way to school.”

And he left me at the lab’s automatic door, comforted to know I was a part of Leo’s crazy plans once more. My pocket vibrated twice. A text. From Leo. It read:

“And talk to Bree. It’s getting old. Even I don’t stay infatuated with Janelle that long until she throws something at me again. J”.

And he was right. We had been dancing this dance for far too long, put this talk over to tomorrow for weeks now. I had kept my mouth shut to preserve us, to spare our family, but it had nearly cost me everything. Cost us everything. We were only strong when we were together, the three of us. Maybe even with Marcus, I was not sure yet. Anyway, it was time to make things right between Bree and me, again, one way or another.

 

In the lab that was also our usual bedroom, Bree sat at my desk, pretending to read one of Tasha’s tabloids. Their very presence in the house was a paradox, considering Leo’s mother’s job, that never ceased to amuse me. By the twitch on Bree’s face, I realized she had heard my entrance. I also knew she was not as focused on her reading as she was making it look like, because she was not playing with a strand of her hair, like she always did when her mind was elsewhere. And just like that, just by staring at the pink climbing her cute cheeks under my gaze, captivated by the flicker of her eyelids as she struggled with the urge to zero in her bright eyes on my face to study me, I felt my heart fill up with that same unrequited love that had almost destroyed us. Note to self: bionic teens are not learning faster than any other kids when it comes to matters of the hearts. But consequences can be dire. Sucks to be us.

I don’t know how long I stood there, observing. The absolute quiet of the house could have been an indication that Adam, Mr Davenport and Tasha were not home yet. So it was probably not that long in the end. I was usually really good at keeping time, with the internal clock and all… She bit her lower lip. Had I been mute for too long? I cleared my throat. She finally looked up. I almost forgot the words I had painfully gathered when her eyes locked with mine. She shyly turned her face away. I cleared my throat again.

“Bree…”

A new silence appeared, grew between us.

“Eloquent”, she said. “But I have learnt to expect better from you.”

She was not kidding. I gulped. It hurt a little, my mouth, my throat suddenly dried up. My lips crackled as I stretched them, desperate to produce a sound. Any sound. I darted out my tongue to wet my lips. And didn’t I just catch the swift movement of Bree’s irises as they fixated on my mouth and back to the floor! The thought did nothing to help.

“We need to talk this out”, I began in a whisper exactly as she was saying:

“Let me make it easy for you by starting.”

“Please do”, I said, not proud with my cowardice.

“You can’t ever leave. Ever again.”, she stated. “It doesn’t matter if we judge that you are not ready for a field mission. Or if we keep things from you. Or if you don’t like who I hang out with.”

“She means ‘flirt’, ‘date’, ‘hug’, ‘kiss’, ‘cuddle’, ‘sloppily make out with’ “, my genial brain supplied. Awesome!

“If something in our home is not to your taste, if you don’t share everyone else’s opinions on something, on anything, you STAY. You stick around and you fight until you proved your point – or yourself, for that matter – or until we see this through.”

I kept staring, unable to move, amazed by her strength and the raw intensity of her words.

“We love you, Chase. We need you.”

“She means ‘us’, ‘the family’, not ‘me’, not ‘me, specifically’. She means ‘brother’, ‘son’ and ‘friend’. That is all she will ever mean.”, my brain thought useful to explain again. Does it ever stop?

“Not because of your super brain, not because of your force fields, and you know what? Not even because of your leadership skills. We need you because of who you are: nice and caring and funny and determined to see what is best in everyone around you. And devoted to make them see it, too. And we need you because when you are not with us, you go around do stupid things that could get your pretty ass killed.”

Okay, the anger made people say idiotic things that they most of the time regret immediately after it came out of their mouth, I was well aware. Still the words ‘pretty ass’ echoed through my brain endlessly… I covered their effects as I countered:

“But it’s why I left. Because you were about to go on a dangerous mission and there would have been nothing I could have done…”. My voice sounded whinier than I intended.

“I cannot accept that.”, she shot back in a softer tone, but somewhat still tensed by our exchange. “WE went as a team. WE were prepared, had back up. YOU just showed up and risked everything.”

It wasn’t true. I had a plan. A one-man op, which also had its advantages since I had been able to move more freely and had more insights on what the rocket held. My scenario also included their ‘team’’s abilities and possible courses of actions whereas they had had almost no visibility on my movements and activities. Bree’s accusation was unfounded. But I was confident she was persuaded I wouldn’t have come unprepared. It wasn’t what she was talking about.

“You wouldn’t have succeeded in making Douglas’ plan abort.”, I suggested. “You needed a fourth.”

“Maybe,”, she admitted, “some we win, some we lose. But hadn’t you been there, you wouldn’t have almost died while we would all have make it out of it alive.”

“You’re right”, I said, deciding once and for all to tell her how I felt. “I have no excuses. It’s just… If something had happened to you while I was sitting at home, I couldn’t… There would have been no…”.

At a loss for words, I opened and closed my mouth without muttering a sound. She waited patiently.

“It’s not just because I am entitled to protect the two of you as the leader. It is not out of duty. It’s not just… Not just because you’re my siblings. Without you around, Bree, I… I know I shouldn’t have started listening to your heartbeats. It was wrong of me, I realize it now. But it could have been anything. How you sound when you laugh and how it sounds so much better when it’s at one of my jokes. Or how you smell in the morning – the subtle mix between vanilla and jasmine – when you join us upstairs for breakfast twenty minutes after everyone else because you pampered yourself for so long. Or that thing you do with your hair when you’re in your head and can’t find an out. Or the way it felt to have you at my arm when we were in Paris, warm and a little electric, and how it left all the cells on my forearm screaming for more when you removed it. I could have been addicted to any of these things.”

“And I was”, I thought. “Yep, I was.”

“Maybe I belong with you… our family”, I kept going. Might as well go all the way, now. “But if I do, then you belong somewhere close, too, because I can’t fathom an existence with anyone in it if you’re not.”

Just as I finished speaking, my sight finally cleared and I finally took how my confession had affected my sister. She had paled a lot and sat straight on the chair, very much looking like a trapped animal, antsy to jump out of reach at a single chance of threat. I had pushed it too far.

“Wh-what do you mean?”, she offered as a way to take all of it back, to turn things around.

“I mean that you and I, we grew up together, that’s true.”, I invented. “But we’re also a tiny, tiny minority of peop… OH MY GOD! SERIOUSLY?”

My eyes would have popped out of their orbits as I heard my own voice unexpectedly yell at me. But something alien had obviously taken control of my body and so they remained in place, neatly. Definitely something to write on the plus column as I walked menacingly towards Bree’s figure, who had shrunk on the chair with her surprise.

“ARE YOU, REALLY, GOING TO DRAG THIS ALONG FOR JUST A SECOND MORE?”, my voice kept screaming, then, smirking at Bree:

“Time to move the show along, cupcake!”

“Marcus?”, she asked, tone high-pitched with astonishment.

But she never got an answer. My body leaned towards her and an instant later, my eyes closed, my lips crashed against hers. Time stopped. A couple of eternities came and went, as we remained motionless, connected only by our lips, unable to breathe – though it might have been due to Marcus’ controlling me, on my side… Then Bree must have come to a decision, because her fingers slid through my hair, her hand grabbed the back of my head as she inclined it to a better angle. Her lips parted and she brushed her tongue against mine, who followed her movement. I honestly would not have been able to tell which one of the two had control over me at this moment. I mentally added the taste of Bree’s kisses to the list of things I could so easily need a rehab center to forget, and then… my brain finally shut down.

Complete, welcome and sweet sweet system crash. I hugged her close as our kiss deepened, seeming to renew itself incessantly, to send new fireworks everywhere our bodies made contact. I lost track of everything. And then… reboot.

Marcus’ control had faded, and the guilt and the shame flooded my brain. I broke the kiss and died a little at the sight of Bree’s flushed cheeks. I ignored the short breath escaping her slightly parted and shiny lips and shook her shoulders as I questioned:

“Bree? Are you OK? It was… The override app! Oh no! Did Marcus use it on you too? I am sorry. I am so sorry. I swear I did not mean to…” – except that I did. “I would not have done this like that” – More accurate. “This is… I can leave if you want me to. I could go away. I know you never wanted this. I can leave… now.”

I let her go as I made my way backwards towards the door, stumbling. Her expression hardened. Focus invaded her gaze.

“No.”, she replied simply. “It is not that simple, idiot.”

She got me. She had figured it out. How stupid of me! She must have felt the difference between my kiss and Marcus’. She knew the second half of it had been all me… I panicked.

“Bree, it was the override app! It was Marcus. I swear and…”

“I don’t care.”, she snapped. “I don’t want to hear any of it. Now that I’ve got one…”

Her figure blurred a little. Something brushed the corner of my mouth.

“I…”, she continued.

Same strange optical effect. A brush again against my lips. I frowned and my fingers reached my skin where I still felt the strangest tingles.

“…will…” 

This time, someone tenderly pushed my hand away from my face as… Bree landed another peck on me.

“…not…”

She was moving so fast I was completely unable to catch her movement. She kept on punctuating each word by a quick, chaste kiss, and each time her run would bring her a little closer to me.

“…let…” 

I bit my lips. I was starting to crave the next brush. All these feather-like touch were stirring a new kind of want: a desire for something I was realizing I could have, that could only be fought for so long.

“…you…”

NOW! 

“…go!”.

I caught Bree in my arms and managed not to fall as I absorbed the shock of her momentum. She eyed down my abs and gave me an appreciate smile. A concern was still nagging at me. 

“There’s just one thing”, I said, softly, afraid to break this fragile beginning. “Marcus made me list… I heard… Some of what Leo and you talked about, in the lab, after I overused my bionics.”

I saw in her eyes she knew what I was referring to, but also her intent to let me finish.

“You said you were suffocating. That you needed me to let you go. That you could not deal with me.”

The knot in my throat prevented me from relating the whole excerpt. Bree laughed. And I relished in the clear and refreshing sound, let it drown the pain and the worry and take them away… 

“Is that why you stopped talking to me? Why you gave me that speech at the Fair? And then… went crazy?”

“Yes.”, I admitted sheepishly.

“And you said Marcus made you listen to that recording?”

“Correct.”

She laughed again, louder this time. And I registered something new in the music of her laughter, an addition of some sort, as if she had never been fully laughing before. The sensation was exhilarating. Still I would have liked some explanation, if only to not feel like she was making fun of it. Well, she was.

“Boys can be so thick. Even the smartest ones.”, she teased.

“Especially the smartest ones, when it comes to lovely girls”, I cooed.

“Seriously, I cannot believe you fell for that one.”

“Care to explain?”, I asked, falsely annoyed.

“Sure.”, she replied in the same tone. “Well, Watson, we established Marcus possesses all of our bionics, correct?”

“Minus one.”, I bragged.

“True, but irrelevant.”

“Alright, alright.”, I said, chuckling. “Please go on.”

“So, Watson, when you hear a recording from Marcus with Leo’s voice and mine on it. It is safe to think that Marcus used your super-hearing to eavesdrop and record, correct?”

“Correct.”

“Wrong! You see, my adorable friend, it is exact that the recording app was used in the process, but nothing proves that Marcus has indeed eavesdropped on any conversation.”

“You mean… he falsified it? With… with your bionic that can copy other people’s voices.”

“Elementary, Watson. I did talk to Leo. But I never said any of those th…”

There was no need to let her finish. There had been enough teasing. I stole a kiss from her. After all, there were quite a few I needed to get back from her. It was only fair. Soon enough, we let our tongues do the talking – well, I mean… We found our own language. Locked in our embrace, I felt invincible, like I could take on the world. Everything was finally as it should. Bree was on my side, on my arm, on my lips. Bree was everywhere, matching how she had been everything for weeks. 

And this time, if, lost in the moment, we were levitating, neither of us cared.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, what did you guys think?
> 
> Tell me something about your day on Tumblr (shatteeran.tumblr.com)!

**Author's Note:**

> Tumblr (shatteeran.tumblr.com).  
> I keep on playing on the idea of having a sequel for this, where we navigate Brase's relationship and Marcus' quest. What do you guys think?


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